Rather than being a celebrated landmark deal between Iran and China, the reported $400 billion, 25-year deal has brought a great deal of controversy to the Hassan Rouhani administration. 

When news of the deal first broke, one of the first critics was former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who asked, “Are you guys the owner of the country that, without informing the nation, you hand its purse to other countries?” He added, “We had a revolution so that no issue, especially an important issue, would be hidden from the public and no one would see themselves as the owner of the nation.” 

Shortly after draft copies of the 18-page agreement between Iran and China began to circulate on Persian language social media and as English language media picked up the story, more details of the deal became known. The deal would bring vast investments into various Iranian sectors, including energy, banking, telecommunications, ports and other sectors, reportedly in exchange for discounted Iranian oil. The deal would give Iran a lifeline as the economy falters under US sanctions — the Donald Trump administration claims it wants a new nuclear deal after exiting the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Iranian officials began to “look east” as Europe was unable to maintain economic ties with Iran after the US exit due to fear of US sanctions.

With broader details of the agreement now public, Iranian officials have gone on the offensive to defend it. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif defended the agreement at a meeting of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. According to the spokesman of the commission, Abufazl Amouei, Zarif said Iran-China ties are “strategic and based on mutual interests and reciprocal respect.”