Not So Fast: China’s $400 Billion Iran Investment is Problem for U.S. War Planners

In the wake of the Saudi Aramco Attack, and even before any data or evidence had been gathered, US President Donald Trump and his bellicose Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately blamed Iran, going so far as to call it “an act of war” against Saudi Arabia and the “international economy,” and have announced this morning that they will be deploying additional US troops and hardware to Saudi. All of this despite the fact that the Yemeni ‘Houthi’ Resistance forces had already announced publicly they had launched the drone attacks last week. Besides the problem of apportioning blame, there is another fundamental flaw in this reckless US-Saudi approach to escalating tensions in the region. In a word: China.

Forbes reports…

Amidst historic U.S. – Iran tensions, Beijing is doubling-down on its strategic partnership with Tehran, ignoring U.S. efforts to isolate the Islamic Republic from global markets. Following an August visit by Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Beijing, the two countries agreed to update a 25-year program signed in 2016, to include an unprecedented $400 billion of investment in the Iranian economy – sanctions be damned.

The capital injection, which would focus on Iran’s oil and gas sector, would also be distributed across the country’s transportation and manufacturing infrastructure. In return, Chinese firms will maintain the right of the first refusal to participate in any and all petrochemical projects in Iran, including the provision of technology, systems, process ingredients and personnel required to complete such projects. According to an exclusive interview with Petroleum Economist, a senior source in Iran’s petrochemical sector had this to say about the new agreement:

The central pillar of the new deal is that China will invest $280 billion developing Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemicals sectors… there will be another $120 billion investment in upgrading Iran’s transport and manufacturing infrastructure, which again can be front-loaded into the first five-year period and added to in each subsequent period should both parties agree.

This comes at a time when Washington is exerting its so-called ‘maximum pressure’ strategy against Iran, which aims to change its international behavior by bringing oil exports down to zero…

Continue this story at Forbes

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