China is Iran’s most important economic partner, buying some 90% of its oil exports and providing a financial lifeline to the heavily sanctioned regime. But since the US and Israel began their war with Iran six months ago, Beijing has offered little visible support to Tehran beyond criticizing the attacks.
In late August, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened economic punishment against any country doing business with Iran as Washington sought to further isolate the Islamic Republic and end the war. His threats put China’s relationship with Iran under fresh scrutiny — and raised the prospect of another clash between Washington and Beijing ahead of a Trump-Xi summit in September.However, China’s exposure to Bessent’s threatened measures may be more limited than it would appear. The relationship between China and Iran is far more lopsided and less strategic than commonly assumed. Beijing’s investment in Iran has fallen dramatically short of headline agreements, its military ties are limited and its broader Middle East strategy depends on balancing relations with Iran’s regional rivals.
How important is Iran to China diplomatically?
Ties with Tehran matter to Beijing, but far less than those with Russia. China’s relationship with Iran appears grounded in pragmatism rather than deep strategic alignment.Iran’s membership in China-led groupings such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization supports Beijing’s effort to dilute US influence and bolster its credentials as a leading voice of the Global South. Beijing’s widely touted role in facilitating a 2023 Iran-Saudi rapprochement enhanced its diplomatic credibility, even as some Western diplomats questioned how central it really was. Beijing hopes to win favor with smaller nations alarmed at Trump’s readiness to intervene militarily in other countries without first seeking an international consensus.But China has long pursued what analysts describe as a dual-track approach in the Middle East, balancing ties with Iran against its relationships with the US and its regional allies. She Gangzheng, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said military support for Iran is “not the way that China does things in the region.”Beijing’s relationship with Moscow is on a different level entirely. Russia is central to China’s pushback against US dominance, is a critical energy supplier and a partner across multilateral forums. Close personal ties between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin reinforce that bond.What is China’s economic relationship with Iran?
