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China and Iran Reach Agreement on 22 Billion Oil Arrears
Iran's Tasnim News Agency said on the 2nd that China and Iran had reached an agreement and agreed to provide US$22 billion in funding for multiple development projects in Iran to "repay" the oil money stranded in China. According to Iranian media, Iranian Parliament Speaker Larijani visited Beijing on October 29. The main purpose was to discuss with senior Chinese officials how to improve the parliamentary, political, economic and cultural relations between China and Iran, and to discuss with China how to resolve this issue. The US$22 billion oil payment is also an important task for Larijani.According to a report by the Azerbaijani Trend News Network on the 2nd, Hussein Sobakhani Niya, a member of the presidium of the Iranian Parliament, told Tasnim News Agency on the 2nd that the Iranian parliamentary delegation discussed a wide range of topics with Chinese officials during their visit to China, including being frozen of Iranian assets, those assets are primarily oil export revenues. Sobakhani-Niya further revealed that Chinese officials have agreed to provide approximately US$22 billion in funding for Iranian development projects to replace Iranian assets frozen in China.
The American "Iranian" news network quoted Sobakhani-Niya on the 2nd as saying that Speaker Larijani had reached relevant agreements with Chinese leaders during his visit to China. The Arabic newspaper "Middle East" published in London reported on the 3rd that Sobakhani-Niya also announced that Iran's assets frozen in foreign banks due to sanctions amounted to 100 billion US dollars. He also confirmed that Iran's gold and hardware The currency is worth $30 billion.
The Associated Press stated on the 3rd that the United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on Iranian oil and banks due to nuclear issues, so Iran has to frequently engage in barter trade. Trend News Network stated that China imported 16.01 million tons of Iranian oil in the first nine months of this year, which is equivalent to 428,160 barrels of oil per day. Despite U.S. and Western sanctions, China and Iran have extensive economic ties. Currently, Iran is China's third largest crude oil supplier. The oil it provides accounts for 12% of China's total annual consumption, and the bilateral trade volume exceeds 40 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, China is Iran’s top crude oil importer.
At present, many media are optimistic about the development of relations between China and Iran. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post stated on the 2nd that Speaker Larijani’s visit to China was seen by some analysts as a gesture by the new leadership of Iran and China to consolidate bilateral relations. Iran's "Tehran Times" said on the 2nd that Larijani held talks with Chinese business people during his visit to Shanghai. He invited Chinese investors to develop high-speed train projects in Iran.
Hua Liming, former Chinese ambassador to Iran, told reporters that the delay in paying the $22 billion oil payment between China and Iran was mainly caused by U.S. sanctions on Iran. Due to the inconvenience caused by US sanctions, China, Japan, South Korea and other countries are gradually reducing their oil imports from Iran. When it comes to paying for oil, there is currently no better way. To solve this problem, the most important thing is to look at the "internal factors" between the United States and Iran. If the relationship between the Rouhani government and the United States improves and the United States lifts sanctions, then the problems currently encountered will be easily solved.
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