A joint declaration by China, Russia and Iran on Iran’s “nuclear issue” issued from Beijing on the same day that a naval war-game concluded between the three countries near the strategic Chabahar port south of Iran may have been a coincidence.
But it would not surprise keen watchers of geopolitics.
Unwittingly, the Ukraine war that began in 2022 has unleashed forces the US-led West did not foresee. It brought Russia and Iran much closer than before. And with China traditionally having good relations with both these countries, it was only a question of time before the three got even closer.
A significant fallout of the growing relationship was Iran’s supply of ‘Shahed’ drones to aid the Russian war effort in Ukraine. These cheap drones were effective in Ukraine expending expensive missiles and other projectiles supplied by the western countries. So much so that Russia is producing its own version of the ‘Shahed’ in Tatarstan with active Iranian collaboration.
On Friday, after the Beijing meeting attended by China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov Sergey Alexeevich and Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, a joint declaration emphasised on the necessity of terminating “all unlawful unilateral sanctions”.
Minister Ma, flanked by ministers Alexeevich and Gharibabadi, read out: “The three countries reiterated that political and diplomatic engagement and dialogue based on the principle of mutual respect remains the only viable and practical option in this regard.”
China and Russia “welcomed” Iran’s reiteration that its nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes, and not for development of nuclear weapons.
It is widely believed that Iran has been trying to develop nuclear weapons and trying to achieve the enrichment of uranium up to the weapons grade level of about 90 per cent.
What also binds the three countries together is the world’s biggest energy guzzler China’s need for Iranian and Russian energy supplies.
Very significantly, the three countries are also members of the BRICS multilateral grouping that has been seeking to provide an alternative to the US-led West controlled dominance of the world economy.
US President Donald Trump has been vehement in his criticism of BRICS, especially for the grouping’s purported aim to create a currency as an alternative to the US dollar which continues to dominate global trade.
BRICS was set up in 2009 with Brazil, Russia, India and China as the founding members while South Africa joined in 2010.
Very significantly, Iran was admitted as a full member to BRICS in 2024. The other members are Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.
With 10 full members and nine partner countries, BRICS makes up for 54.6 per cent of the world population and 42.2 per cent of the global GDP (PPP).
On Wednesday, the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS), a leading Chinese state-controlled think-tank published its findings where it stated that BRICS should raise its strategic profile on the world stage, working together to tackle “external shocks” including western sanctions against founding member Russia that were imposed following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.