The Iran-China deal is cause for Israeli concern

In an article published by Israel Hayom, Dan Schueftan is an Israeli academic and chairman of the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa warned that the recent agreement between Iran-Chine is a great challenge for Israel.

"While Israel was busy with the domestic political imbroglio surrounding last week’s Knesset elections, a strategic threat that could threaten the country’s very existence was developing. If the Iranian-Chinese alliance reaches its full potential, the Middle East could once again be dragged into a new cold war between superpowers," Schueftan wrote.​

He then added that Chinese support could "create the kind of strategic threat Israel has not seen since the 1973 Yom Kippur War."

The chairman of the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa also noted that "China’s foreign minister signed a 25-year strategic deal, first drawn up during Chinese President Xi Ji Ping’s 2016 visit to Iran, aimed at increasing bilateral trade tenfold, to $600 billion in 10 years. The deal will provide China with priority access to huge investments in Iranian infrastructure, banking and communications. The agreement also allows for joint military exercises and military cooperation in the future. In return, China is set to provide Iran with vast amounts of oil and gas in the long-term at relatively low rates."

"This kind of agreement serves to effectively neutralize U.S. economic pressure, seriously bolsters Iran’s bargaining position and could herald a renewed Iranian effort toward regional hegemony. The rate of its realization and its characteristics depend crucially on U.S.-China ties. This is a very important Chinese bargaining chip in the international area—one that was suspended under Trump and pulled out once again under Biden, with significant repercussions for Israel," the article said.