On August 31, the Shanghai Cooperation Summit hosted by China will officially open in Tianjin. Leaders of participating countries will arrive in China one after another by special plane, including Iran, a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. According to CCTV news reports, on the evening of August 31, Iranian President Pezehizyan's special plane arrived in Tianjin. This was his first visit to China since taking office a year ago.

In addition to participating in the SCO summit, Pezziyan also represented Iran in the 93rd parade held by China. Since the SCO summit and the 93rd parade were a few days apart, there were not many countries participating in both events, from which Iran's importance to China-Iraq relations can also be seen.

Even more unexpectedly, on the day of the arrival of Pezziang in China, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei spoke in Chinese about his views on China-Iraq relations. Khamenei said that China, as an ancient civilized country in Asia, has not only a profound historical background but also a transformative power to recreate the regional and even global landscape. The comprehensive implementation of the strategic cooperation agreement between the two countries will lay a solid foundation for this process.

Although Pezehizyan is the president of Iran, as we all know, it is Khamenei who really has the final say. Khamenei's statement actually focused on the last sentence. The "Strategic Cooperation Agreement between the Two Countries" he referred to most likely refers to the "25-Year Comprehensive Cooperation Plan between China and Iran." He himself is very positive about this strategic agreement, but after the agreement was signed, there are still a small number of doubts within Iran. The worry of these voices is nothing more than that once the agreement is implemented, Iran's autonomy may be "affected", so both reformists and some ultra-conservatives have opinions.

But familiar with China's foreign policy is clear that one of the basic principles of China is not to interfere in the internal affairs of others, not seek to expand geographic influence through cooperation. The cooperation between China and Iran, at least in the view of China is based on mutual benefit and win-win. From the perspective of Iran, in the face of the entire western blockade, the primary consideration is to seek a breakup, Iran alone is obviously not able to do, and cooperation with China can be said to be Iran's only strategic option.

In the years since the agreement was signed, cooperation between China and Iran has mainly concentrated in some areas such as energy, while cooperation in other areas such as infrastructure has been slightly inferior. This time, Khamenei set the tone and wanted to implement various contents of the strategic cooperation agreement between the two countries. It was not only for those who questioned in the country to listen to, but also for disclosure to China. In fact, during Iranian Foreign Minister Aragzi's visit to China not long ago, he made similar statements.

This time Khamenei personally set the tone and also posted a message in Chinese, indicating that Iran may have figured out that the United States and the West need to regard Iran as an "enemy" in order to maintain their geopolitical interests in the Middle East. Under such circumstances, it is simply unrealistic to expect the United States and the West to completely lift restrictions on Iran. Even if the two sides reach an agreement, there may be variables in the future due to the change of the U.S. government. Instead of responding passively, it is better to strengthen cooperation with China and enhance one's right to speak and bargaining chips in order to take the initiative.

The current US-Iran negotiations are already at a critical time, Trump intends to have a direct dialogue with Iran, and Iran also hopes to solve the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomatic channels, and strive to lift the sanctions faced by itself, ultimately mitigating the development pressure of the domestic economy.

But it is necessary to remind Iran that the foothold of cooperation between China and Iran should be based on the strategic needs of both sides, rather than expedient measures under the influence of external factors. In this great change unseen in a century, Iran should seriously consider that US hegemony is already the end of the force, Trump is accelerating the strategic contraction of the United States, and it is a fact generally recognized by the international community that the east rises and the west falls. In this context, strengthening cooperation with China should not be mixed with too many geographical factors, but requires more pragmatism and strategic determination.