TEHRAN – Hesamoddin Ashna, a senior advisor to President Hassan Rouhani, believes that the bullying approach by the United States has brought Iran, China and Russia closer together more than ever.

“America’s maximum pressure [policy] has changed the strategic analyses of China and Russia about the near future,” Ashna said on his Twitter account on Friday.

Ashena, who was accompanying Rouhani to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek on Thursday Friday where leaders of China and Russia were present, described U.S. sanctions and pressures as a “paper tiger” which will not withstand against “common resistance” of the three countries.

“If anyone had intended to strengthen this axis, they should be regarded as close to their success,” the advisor added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on Thursday that the current U.S. administration had imposed dozens of sanctions on Russia, and contrasted Moscow’s troubled relationship with Washington with what he described as its blossoming ties with China.

The Trump administration, which abandoned the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran last year, has also reimposed sanctions on Tehran, putting enormous new pressure on Iran’s economy. 

In the meantime, the U.S. and China have been in a trade war since last year when Trump began imposing tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods.

MH/PA