In order to completely reach reconciliation with Pakistan, the Iranian president personally came to his door to shake hands with Pakistan and make peace. Behind this, there is also a far-reaching layout of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Persian Gulf, the world's number one "oil-rich region".
At a time when the situation in the Middle East is becoming more and more confusing, Iran has begun to take the initiative to "attack" diplomatically to create a more favorable international environment for itself, and one of its targets is Pakistan. In order to completely reach reconciliation with Pakistan, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi recently paid a personal visit to Pakistan and met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other high-level officials, and visited Lahore and Karachi cities to shake hands and make peace with Pakistan.
Iran and Pakistan will not only put aside their old grievances, but will also strengthen cooperation in trade, transportation, energy, agriculture and other fields. The first two of these involve the expansion and development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. It can be said that China played a key role in the reconciliation between Iran and Pakistan, and then the layout of the China-Pakistan corridor was connected with the Persian Gulf, the world's largest "oil-rich region".
(Iranian President Raisi visits Pakistan)
Historically, Iran and Pakistan have been in conflict over religious, geopolitical, ethnic, and border issues. In terms of religion and geopolitics, the majority of Iran's population is Shia, while more than 80% of Pakistan's population is Sunni. In order to compete with the Sunni Arab countries, Iran has supported many Shiite militants in the Middle East, building the so-called "Shiite arc", which is contrary to Pakistan's interests.
At the same time, the Belochistan Mountains, which occupy most of the southwestern territory of Pakistan, also cover the southeastern part of Iranian territory, and many separatist armed forces are active in the Belochistan Mountains, some of which are supported by the intelligence services of the West and India and other countries, and often carry out terrorist attacks on the territory of Iran and Pakistan, and often take advantage of the characteristics of the Belochistan Mountains across the border between Iran and Pakistan, terrorists attacking Iran will hide on the side of Pakistani territory to avoid Iran's attacks, and terrorists attacking Pakistan will hide on the side of Iranian territory to avoid Pakistan's attacks, which makes the two countries tireless and becomes the fuse of the conflict between the two countries。
(Shia Muslim population ratio in the Middle East)
On 16 January this year, the Iranian army attacked a terrorist camp in Pakistan's Balochistan province, leading to a clash between the two countries.
However, to the surprise of the West and India, China played an important mediating role, and at a time when Iran and Pakistan were at a time of tension, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu had a telephone conversation with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Bagheri, and Vice Minister Sun Weidong also visited Pakistan. As a direct result, Iran and Pakistan quickly shook hands and agreed to "expand security cooperation" and work together to combat terrorist forces in each other's territories.
(Iran attacks terrorist group camp in Pakistan)
The Iranian president's visit to Pakistan is also a further deepening of China's mediation action. With the normalization of relations between Iran and Pakistan and the further strengthening of cooperation in various fields, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has basically no obstacle to connecting the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. Through the China-Pakistan corridor, China can greatly strengthen trade with Iran and shorten the geographical distance between it and Iran. In fact, the Gwadar port at the southern end of the CPEC is only a few dozen kilometers from Iran's border, and its ultimate goal is to connect with the Middle East, and Iran's geographical position on this line is crucial.
(The southern end of the CPEC is very close to Iran)
It is worth noting that the US House of Representatives recently passed by an "overwhelming majority" a bill to block China's purchase of Iranian oil, and if China does not comply, the United States will impose sanctions on a number of Chinese companies and financial institutions. Economically, we are not afraid of U.S. sanctions, but there is a possibility that the U.S. and Indian navies will likely intercept and harass Chinese tankers carrying Iranian oil through the Indian Ocean.
In the long run, if Iran's oil pipeline can lead to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, China's imports of Iranian oil will be able to completely take the land route, avoiding the Indian Ocean route, and the attempt of the United States and India to blockade the "main artery" of China's oil imports will be completely invalid, which will bring great strategic benefits to China.
We have seen a recent increase in attacks on Chinese companies and people by terrorist forces in Pakistan, which may be followed by the black hands of Indian intelligence agencies. After a car bomb attack on a Chinese engineer's car at the end of March this year, which killed five Chinese people, another suicide bomb attack against Japanese citizens occurred in Karachi a few days ago, and the media widely believed that the attackers mistook the Japanese for Chinese. Therefore, China is very happy to see Iran and Pakistan join forces to fight the "three forces".