TEHRAN — A political science professor at New Hampshire University says the partnership plan between China and Iran will be better for Iran than for China in the short run.

“In the short run, the deal between China and Iran will be better for Iran than for China, because Iran will be able to sell its oil at a time of low demand,” Kurk Dorsey said in an interview with ILNA published on Saturday.

Dorsey, who is a member of the master in public policy faculty and a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire, said that in general, expanding trade with China will help the Iranian economy.

Iran and China are in the process of negotiating a long-term strategic cooperation plan that would bolster the two countries’ ties for years to come. The plan isn’t finalized yet. However, some of its details have been leaked to the press. According to the leaks, China will invest a whopping $400 billion in various Iranian sectors including oil and gas. In exchange, Iran will ensure steady energy supplies to China for a period of 25 years at a discounted rate.

The U.S. has expressed concerns over the plan, claiming it would “destabilize” the region. In an interview with the Fox News network on August 2, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “China’s entry into Iran will destabilize the Middle East [West Asia].”

‘Trump mad at Iran for not doing what he wants’

Asked to comment on the U.S. government’s sanctions on Iran, the professor said U.S. President Donald Trump is mad at the Iranian leadership for not doing what he wants.

“Trump believes that his supporters really hated the deal that President Obama made with Iran, so he cannot make a deal with Iran unless it makes him look like the winner,” he said.

Professor Dorsey explained that Trump’s foreign policy has been driven by two factors, namely doing the opposite of whatever Obama did and worrying less about U.S. values and worrying more about personal transactions with foreign leaders.  

U.S. President Donald Trump quit the nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions in history on Iran as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

On May 8, 2019, exactly one year after the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, Tehran said its “strategic patience” is over and began to gradually reduce its commitments under the pact to both retaliate for Washington’s departure and Europeans’ failure to honor their commitments.

On January 5 of this year, Iran took a fifth and last step in reducing its commitments and said it would no longer observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry, whether concerning the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of stockpiled uranium or research and development. However, Iran has insisted if the Europeans honor their obligations it will immediately reverse its decisions.

MH/PA