China and Iran, along with Russia and North Korea, comprise an unofficial axis called "Crink" by some Western officials, nations brought together in part by a shared wish to push back against the U.S. China has helped Russia prop up its isolated economy and provide it with dual-use materials to build its military; Iran has supplied Russia with ammunition and helped it develop drones for use in the Ukraine war, where North Korea
sent thousands of soldiers to fight alongside Moscow's.
After Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran last year, the other Crink nations
did little to come to Iran's aid. China remained concerned about exposing its banks and key companies to sanctions from the U.S. and Europe.
Beijing and Tehran signed a 25-year economic cooperation agreement in 2021 that called for China to invest $400 billion across Iran's economy in exchange for a steady supply of discounted oil. Iranian officials have urged China to do more to implement the deal, which has seen limited results amid continuing sanctions pressure.
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But appeals from Iranian officials for more help from China have been met with scathing criticism on Chinese social media, Tuvia Gering, a China researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, wrote in his newsletter Discourse Power on Monday.
He highlighted a post by Zhanhao, a popular nationalist-leaning account on
WeChat, that sharply expressed such sentiment.
"Iran continues to expect China to take the bullet for it," the post read. "That's pure fantasy!"
