A 25-year comprehensive cooperation agreement signed between Iran and China last year has now entered the implementation stage, according to Iran‘s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdolahian, who announced the news on Friday, Jan. 14, following a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

The strategic pact, which was signed in Tehran in March 2021, when former president Hassan Rouhani was in power, entails economic, military and security cooperation, although both countries are subject to different levels of US sanctions.

Among other things, China has been buying Iranian oil at a lower price in defiance of sanctions for the last three years. No country discloses the exact details of the transaction.