Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Global South strategic cooperation

I don't think Iran renegaded on that peace development with Saudis. After all, even with tremendous escalation the US/Israel did in the Gaza,

Iran-supported and Saudi-supported factions in Yemen still achieved peace.

Despite the US basically conducting strikes on Houthis from their bases and airspaces of Saudis and other actors,

Houthis still didn't bomb any Saudi oil fields back.

Houthis were even promised to eventually get their own country and recognition by Saudis and their faction in Yemen just recently and more.

Interesting article on the geopolitics of middle east today.

Minm said:

Pakistan is the one that's leaning towards the west again and they have a history of harbouring or tolerating terrorists, including those that target Chinese workers in beluchistan.

But of course the Iranian attack shouldn't have been done without asking Pakistan for permission first

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Pakistan is china’s top ally in the region but sure let’s attack them for only buying Chinese military gears and doing annual military training and saying that anyone attacking China attacks Pakistan.

Keep making excuses for Iran. China gave them a lifeline and now they are making lives hard for China. This is how they repay China.

people here have turkey for putting tariffs on Chinese evs but apparently Iran gets a pass for initiating attack on China’s most loyal ally.

What did Iran do when america attacked and killed top general? Just one attack on U.S. base that impacted very little. Why does it suddenly feel the need to attack Pakistan? And done nothing in this ongoing Middle East conflict against western countries that are attacking its Houthi allies? Because it feels it has strong position against Pakistan and not against the west.

this is not about right or wrong, but about perception of strength and weakness. Frankly, Iran is not showing China any respect. It has put China in a terrible position.

tphuang said:

What did Iran do when america attacked and killed top general? Just one attack on U.S. base that impacted very little. Why does it suddenly feel the need to attack Pakistan? And done nothing in this ongoing Middle East conflict against western countries that are attacking its Houthi allies? Because it feels it has strong position against Pakistan and not against the west.

this is not about right or wrong, but about perception of strength and weakness. Frankly, Iran is not showing China any respect. It has put China in a terrible position.

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It does seem very suspicious. Some people say it is mutually attacking each others enemy, but surely there are better way than this? Let's wait and see how it develops.

tphuang said:

Pakistan is china’s top ally in the region but sure let’s attack them for only buying Chinese military gears and doing annual military training and saying that anyone attacking China attacks Pakistan.

Keep making excuses for Iran. China gave them a lifeline and now they are making lives hard for China. This is how they repay China.

people here have turkey for putting tariffs on Chinese evs but apparently Iran gets a pass for initiating attack on China’s most loyal ally.

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They bomb balochi terrorists, the same ones that threatened to attack China in Pakistan.

I mean it's pretty simple, Pakistan isn't even the main country they attacked. They did strikes across a few friendly countries, aimed at pro US/pro Israeli terrorists infesting those areas. So when China for example activates assets/flies spec ops to defeat cartel warlords in SEA, does that mean China is not a friend anymore to say Myanmar, Laos etc? No, it just means it helps other countries keep their houses in line, if they're not stable enough to do so.

And that's clearly the case for Syria and Iraq (where they also succeeded in assassinating a major Mossad connected figure). For Pakistan, more questionable since they're generally more stable than the others.

But clearly Pakistan doesn't care, if they viewed it as a real attack, it'd be war. Instead, they went after more US friendly terrorist, just inside Iran. And Iran didn't shoot them down for it either, so it's clear Iran doesn't care as well.

tphuang said:

Pakistan is china’s top ally in the region but sure let’s attack them for only buying Chinese military gears and doing annual military training and saying that anyone attacking China attacks Pakistan.

Keep making excuses for Iran. China gave them a lifeline and now they are making lives hard for China. This is how they repay China.

people here have turkey for putting tariffs on Chinese evs but apparently Iran gets a pass for initiating attack on China’s most loyal ally.

Click to expand...

Pakistan is a failed state that has received dozens of billions of investment from China and not much to show for it. They also have no ability to combat terrorism inside their territory and they are now getting closer to the Americans. I don't feel sorry for them.

The Iranian attack inside Pakistan (not against Pakistan, obviously) was stupid and not defensible, but it has nothing to do with China and is very unlikely to escalate. Iran needs to learn to respect others' sovereignty and Pakistan needs to get serious on terrorism. Sadly, just urging them to stop terrorism doesn't seem to be very effective.



Why would Iran feel it owes something to China for the Saudi deal? Didn't China gain a lot of diplomatic clout by being involved? All three parties benefited, nobody owes any favours. Where Iran does owe China is in the entry to brics and sco. However, I still believe that's mostly Russia's influence.


I think China is getting a lot of respect via the houthis with their Iranian weapons who don't target ships that advertise links to China.

Iran is not just entering BRICS and SCO. They also got a free trade agreement with Russia's EAEU economic block. This is a map where you can see the EAEU countries in red and the countries with trade agreement with the EAEU in green.

tphuang said:

Frankly, Iran is not showing China any respect. It has put China in a terrible position.

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This is between Iran and Pakistan, and has nothing to do with China! It is an old story, and mostly reflects the many connections established by the CIA in Pakistan starting with the first Afghan war against the Soviet Union and maintained through the nineties and the last two decades. These ties have even been used against Pakistan itself, if we remember the Red Mosque incident. Terrorist incidents have often been perpetrated against Iran from Pakistani soil, and apparently this happened recently on the anniversary of Solemaini's death. This has everything to do with the continuous 40+ year "hybrid war" waged by the US against Iran.

I doubt China is anything but happy that Iran is taking terrorism seriously and combatting it. I see absolutely no evidence that China wants Iran to be "peaceful" towards these terrorists and none of this is "disrespectful to China". If anything, it is disrespectful to Baloch terrorists and their foreign backers. And China is not in a "terrible position" because it is nobody's nanny.

As to this "ranking" of allies (Pakistan #1) it is pure fiction. No such ranking exists. In any case, Pakistan and China are "iron brothers" because of their common problem in India. Both countries need each other. However, I do not see any major cooperation on world affairs, or even regional affairs beyond this. In fact Pakistan has its problems with Afghanistan as well. I think the cooperation with the new BRICS countries is indeed more profound, even if it is newer. The new arrangements in the Middle East have Iran at their center, and these new arrangements are changing every equation for the US. I'm not sure where Pakistan fits in this, and I'm not sure they are very comfortable with the new Middle East. For what it's worth, I also don't think Turkiye or Qatar are very comfortable either.

Chinese Foreign Ministry's official statement on the Iran-Pakistan problem: "If needed, China is willing to offer constructive contributions to the issue".