Iranian media reported Sunday that Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, recently serving as a chief negotiator in talks with the United States, has now been tasked with managing Iran’s relations with China, according to AFP.
“Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has recently been appointed as a special representative of the Islamic republic of Iran for China affairs,” Tasnim news agency reported, citing “informed sources.”
Who appointed Ghalibaf remained unclear. However, Tasnim reported that his role would be to “coordinate various sectors of relations between Iran and China.”
Iran War
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, targeting its leadership and triggering a new conflict in the Middle East.
Iran has been responding with a retaliatory counterattack in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi as a retaliatory move, while launching barrages of missiles and drones toward Israel.
The conflict has spread across the Middle East, leaving thousands dead, triggering unprecedented disruptions to energy supplies especially after the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The war has killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Ali Larijani, who once led Tehran’s nuclear negotiation team and also served as a close ally to the late Supreme Leader.
Larijani also spearheaded negotiations with China that culminated in a 25-year cooperation agreement in 2021.
Since the outbreak of the war, both Tehran and Washington remain locked in a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran tightens its control over maritime traffic while the United States continues to enforce a blockade on Iranian ports.
In recent days, Tehran has permitted several Chinese vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz, with the Revolutionary Guards saying that the ships transited after “an agreement on Iran’s strait management protocols”.
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