TEHRAN— Seyed Mahmood Nabavian, a senior member of the Iranian parliament has described Iran-China cooperation plan as a “win-win” situation and ruled out speculation about transfer of authority of Iranian islands to China, describing them as a “pure lie”.

Iran and China signed a 25-year partnership on March 27. The cooperation document has been the hot trend of many discussions among Iranian and even Western journalists and politicians. Many describe the cooperation document as an important move by Iran to distance itself from Europe and the U.S., with Bloomberg describing the plan as “a challenge to the United States.”

“This plan cannot be easily judged and the text of it must be read. If it is in the interest of the Iranian nation, there must be evidence in the text of this plan, and if it is to the detriment of the people, the evidence must be found in the text,” Nabavian said in an interview with the Mehr News Agency published on Sunday. 

Referring to the details of the cooperation plan, he added: "This cooperation plan has 9 clauses and 3 annexes. The first appendix provides the main objectives, the second appendix details the areas of cooperation, and the third appendix details the areas of cooperation.”

The representative of Tehran in the parliament stated that one of the most important components of this agreement is in the field of oil and energy and clarified, “One of our main problems is the embargo on oil sales, which China has guaranteed in this agreement to buy for the next 25 years. On the other hand, we are at the height of sanctions and we currently sell about 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, of which about 900,000 barrels are sold to China.”

He added, “The agreement also stipulates that Iran and China will cooperate in the development of oil fields, development of refineries and petrochemicals, as well as equipping oil, gas and petrochemical reserves. After the JCPOA, we all remember that companies like ‘Shell’ came to Iran, but they all left. In contrast, China signed this important cooperation plan with Iran at the height of sanctions.”

The senior MP emphasized, “Another important issue mentioned in the agreement with China is the return of money to Iran and the facilitation of banking relations. The United States, Britain, France and Germany are looking for Iran not to be able to sell its oil and also to return the money to our country to put pressure on Iran, but signing this cooperation plan with China will prevent the enemies from achieving their goal and plan. They will fail, and it is clear that Westerners will oppose the Iran-China cooperation plan.” 

He added, “The agreement between Iran and China also states that China will cooperate with Iran so that we can build power plants and be able to export electricity to neighboring countries. The agreement also stipulates that China jointly invests with Iran so that we can build power plants in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria, and also work with China to supply the electricity of the Silk Road countries. At the same time, Iran undertakes in this agreement to supply gas to China and Pakistan as much as it can.”

He also said, “In the agreement between Iran and China in the field of transportation, including air, land, rail, and sea, agreements have been concluded, because for oil exports, the issue of transportation insurance and transportation security is important, which in this agreement has been reached.”

The MP stated, “Also in the cooperation program between Iran and China for the development of coasts, it is stated that the two sides can build ports with advanced technologies and also a corridor from south to north to export goods to Central Asian countries, and a corridor from south to the west for the purpose of exporting goods to Turkey and Azerbaijan, which is very important for us and will create jobs.”

"According to this agreement, a pilgrimage railway is to be established between Iran, Iraq, and Syria," Nabavian said.

According to the document, Iran and China are going to cooperate at industrial levels, which is very important for job creation, the MP said. 

“We have created free and special trade zones that are tax-free for export, but at the moment these zones are only import-oriented, and one of the things that is agreed with China is that Iran, in cooperation with China, can produce cars in the free zones and export them to the countries of the region,” he remarked. 

“It is very important for us to produce tablets, laptops, and mobile phones in cooperation with the Chinese and to cooperate with China in the field of artificial intelligence,” Nabavian said. 

“Iran and China are also expected to cooperate in the military and defense fields, meaning that the military industries of the two countries are to work together, which will benefit the Iranian people to improve their knowledge in this field,” he emphasized. 

Referring to Iran-China cooperation in political, regional and international fields, Nabavian said, "One of our problems in the (UN) Security Council is that the United States issues resolutions against our country, and if China cooperates with us and vetoes these resolutions, it will be very good and important for us. These are all important issues that should be considered.”

He noted, "Iran-China cooperation program is a win-win agreement and it is not that we lose. The cooperation program is very good. Some may say that China is looking for benefits by signing this agreement, which is to say that this is true, and it is natural for each country to have its own interests, and we will definitely consider our own interests.”

The parliamentarian added, “In the JCPOA, the United States and the West achieved their interests and made the most of it. They pushed back our nuclear industry, did not reduce even one sanction, and increased sanctions against Iran, and the JCPOA was completely to our detriment.”