Amid a lackluster turnout in Iran’s elections, the US special envoy for Iran called the vote a "façade of democracy," as crackdown on dissent continues since quashing the 2022 nationwide protests.
The US Deputy Special Envoy to Iran, Abram Paley, pointed out that the Iranian people are deprived of genuine choice at the polls. “As some Iranians vote today in their first parliamentary election since the regime's latest violent crackdown, the world knows the Iranian people do not have a true say at the ballot box.”
While the Iranian regime heavily relies on Beijing as its primary oil customer, the actual data on bilateral economic relations appears less promising for the sanctions-stricken country.
China's foreign trade statistics for 2023 reveal that Beijing's largest trade volume is with the European Union, reaching $783 billion last year. Following the EU are major economies such as the US ($664 billion), Japan ($318 billion), South Korea, and others.
This overall picture will most probably not appeal to the Iranian regime sympathizers who have frequently lauded Tehran-Beijing ties as a sign of Iran’s foreign policy success; they have to be very patient to get to Iran’s name on the list.
Iran's placement as China's 38th trading partner, with trade volume not exceeding $32 billion, falls significantly behind several neighboring and regional rivals. Saudi Arabia, for instance, boasts a trade volume with China of $107 billion, followed by the UAE, Iraq, Turkey, and Oman.
Next in the region are the UAE ($95 billion), Iraq ($50 billion), Turkey ($43 billion) and Oman ($35 billion). Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan and Egypt are the only regional countries whose volume of trade with China is less than Iran’s.
Iran Economist news website covered China’s foreign trade data in 2023 and Iran’s meager share in it, ironically calling it “the new achievement” of the Iranian government.
Faraz Daily, an online newspaper, warned that decline in trade with China is just a symptom which reflects a much enormous problem: Iran’s decline share of the world trade. According to the newspaper, Iran’s share of world trade has alarmingly decreased to %0.24 in 2022.
Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, economist and the founder of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, a think-tank focusing on economic diplomacy in the Middle East and Central Asia, remarked on X that “Chinese exports to Iran have fallen significantly since their 2014 peak” while Beijing’s trade with Moscow has grown.
Many observers contend that China has over the past years considered Iran as an instrument through which it can boost its leverage in the region. According to Amin Saikal, emeritus professor of Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, “in befriending Iran and Afghan theocracies, China has positioned itself to be able to extend its influence across West Asia, given Tehran’s formidable proxy presence in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.”
Despite this, Iranian officials have made numerous concessions to China, including granting contracts for infrastructure projects in Tehran, a move criticized by Ahmad Khorram, former Roads and Transportation Minister, as detrimental to local expertise.
Earlier this month, Tehran’s municipality announced that China will soon start building housing units in the capital. Mayor Alireza Zakani said several contracts have been signed with Chinese companies to revamp the capital’s infrastructure, including construction and transportation projects, at the expense of local businesses amidst a crippling economic crisis.
Rejecting the deal as an insult to the local expertise, Ahmad Khorram, former Roads and Transportation Minister, warned that “we have given China privileges that are unprecedented in our country.” According to the former minister, Tehran provides Beijing with all these privileges to guarantee its support in the UN Security Council.
Both China and Russia have collaborated with the US over banning Iran’s nuclear program and were the first countries to back the Security Council’s resolutions against Iran, he stressed.
Noting that the elections do not represent the Iranian people, he highlighted that thousands of candidates were already barred from running for a seat. “The regime seeks to use these elections as the façade of democracy, but has already disqualified thousands of candidates. The Iranian people know well these elections are unrepresentative, whatever the outcome. And we do too.”
He also referred to the ongoing suppression of dissent, citing the sentencing of singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour earlier Friday. Hajipour's song, "Baraye," became a symbol of the Iranian protests, winning him a Grammy award and landing him in prison.
Paley also vowed that the United States will relentlessly expose Iranian officials complicit in human rights violations and denying basic freedoms. He concluded with a firm message of solidarity, "We stand with the Iranian people in their struggle for a free and democratic future."
On the eve of elections, the US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller censured Iran’s electoral system as “opaque” and “undemocratic.” "I suspect that a great number of Iranians have no expectation that those elections will be free and fair," the state department said.
