Iran rejects talks on China deal tied to US election results

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saied Khatibzadeh has rejected media reports that talks with China on a major economic and security partnership agreement has been suspended until results of the November 3 presidential elections in the US are known.

“I deny such an issue, these issues are raised by adversarial media and are untrue,” Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by the Iranian parliament’s news service ICANA on Wednesday.

The official said that Iran and China were continuing discussions on the 25-year deal without being influenced by the political situation in the US.

“Negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and China under the 25-year agreement is continuing diligently and (they) are not tied to elections of any country specially the United States of America,” said Khatibzadeh.

Iran and China have been moving to finalize a major agreement to facilitate cooperation in areas like energy, investment and security.

Reports have suggested that China would commit to nearly $400 billion of investment in Iran in 25 years while Iran would in return guarantee to provide a stable supply of crude and related products to China.

Increasing cooperation between Iran and China have been viewed as a response to growing US pressure on the two countries, especially on Iran since incumbent US President Donald Trump came to office in 2017.

SS