Iran Looks Warily to China for Help as US Sanctions Resume – Urban Christian News

It’s hard not to see China wherever you look in Iran.

From Chinese goods flooding markets to its business people eager for deals as Western business interests flee, Iran likely will further embrace Beijing as an alternative market for its crude oil and financial transactions amid uncertainty over the nuclear deal.

That doesn’t mean China offers a safe haven to Iran without conditions. Beijing will try to extract the maximum benefit, analysts say, and there is growing concern that China may take advantage of Iran.

Iran “has had to rely on China to offset the Western-induced isolation, predominantly championed by the United States,” said Arianne Tabatabai, an associate political scientist at the RAND Corp. who recently co-authored a book exploring Iran’s ties with China and Russia. “I think that what we’re going to see . is the return of a quasi-monopoly of key sectors of the Iranian economy by the Chinese.”

Trade and ties between China and Iran date back over 2,000 years to the ancient Silk Road caravan routes that brought the textile to Europe. Modern relations began under then-ruler Mohammad Reza Shah in 1971 after the Americans acknowledged Beijing’s Communist government. The 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew the shah caused ties to cool until the mid-1980s.

For China, Iran for years served as a crucial gas pump for its rapid economic growth. Up until 2012, Iran was China’s third-largest source of crude oil imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Then came sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, sparked by the West’s fears…