Iran

[Lonewolf_50]

Iran and China:

"With Iran, China Holds the Leverage"

On Tuesday, Israeli troops moved into Lebanon, and Iran launched another missile attack toward Israel. Amid escalating tensions last week, Beijing pledged its support for Tehran. In practice, that is unlikely to mean much: Although the two countries are close, China holds almost all the leverage—and Iran has little ability to drag it into a conflict so far from its core interests.

Energy remains the key to the China-Iran relationship. More than 90 percent of Iranian crude oil exports now go to China, purchased mostly by private refineries operating on the black market; however, as of 2019, Iran was only China’s sixth-largest oil supplier. (More recent data is difficult to come by due to relabeling of Iranian oil to avoid sanctions.)

In 2021, the two countries signed a 25-year agreement in which China promised significant investment in Iran, securing that oil supply as well as Tehran’s implicit agreement not to protest the repression of Islam in China or support the persecuted Uyghur minority.

This is an excerpt of a longer/larger article in Foreign Policy magazine. In a larger sense, it's hopeful to see that Iran probably can't drag China into action (that might have a military element attached to it).