Will China Back Iran In A Conflict With The U.S.?

A PLA Navy destroyer, an Iranian Navy frigate, and a Russian frigate during joint naval drills in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Oman. Photo provided by the Iranian Army office on December 28, 2019. Photo: AFP / Iranian Army office

Christina Lin, Asia Times: China might take Iran’s side in a war with US

Beijing’s ties with Tehran are crucial to its energy and geopolitical strategies, and with Moscow also in the mix, a broader conflagration is a real possibility.

After the US assassination of Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani on Friday, Germany’s Spiegel Online observed that this is akin to a declaration of war on Iran. Now the US Congress is scrambling for a debate on a formal declaration of war, although it will unlikely block the Trump White House’s march toward the battlefield.

Last March, President Donald Trump reviewed the Pentagon’s plan to send 120,000 US troops to counter Iran, and the current military buildup of deploying 3,500 more US troops to the region may be part of that plan. Also, in 2017, a think-tank that enjoys close ties with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Trump White House, sent a seven-page memo outlining plans for regime change in Iran, and the current scenario seems to be taken out of this playbook.

The next question is, how will regional powers react to a US-Iran war?

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WNU Editor: China is in the same position that the U.S. was for decades before they became energy independent. Reliant on Middle Eastern oil for their petroleum needs. China also has tens of billions of dollars invested in China, most of it in the energy sector. But aside from diplomacy, China is limited on what they could do if a shooting war erupts between Iran and the U.S. in the Middle East. Ditto for Russia. And then there is the internal situation in Iran itself. Many within the country are deeply dissatisfied with the rule of the mullahs, and it is not going to get better.