NEW DELHI (Dispatches) --
Defense Minister Brigadier General Muhammad Reza Ashtiani has expressed Iran’s readiness to expand joint military drills with China as part of a bid to further develop bilateral strategic ties and counter the West’s persisting unilateralism.
Ashtiani told his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) here that the United States is currently engaged in fomenting crisis and tension in Eastern Europe and West Asia.
“American policies are a common threat to Iran and China; we are against a unipolar world,” he said.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, he said, has turned into an influential organization in global developments. Ashtiani said expansion and consolidation of the SCO is an effective step towards promoting multilateralism.
Iran and China have invariably collaborated to thwart “unilateralist and totalitarian approaches” pursued by the West in independent countries, he added.
The defense minister referred to last month’s joint naval drills between Iran, China and Russia, dubbed Maritime Security Belt exercise 2023.
The drill, he said, “showed that the three countries are against the hegemonic views of the West and the United States, and we are ready to expand joint drills and exercises in the fields of sea, land, and air defense quantitatively and qualitatively.”
Ashtiani called for continued dialogue and exchange of military defense and intelligence delegations at different levels between Iran and China.
He lauded shared cultural and historical relations between Iran and China, saying the political will of the leaders of the two countries and their common positions towards international developments are of strategic value.
Li, for his part, lauded “deep and long-term” ties between Tehran and Beijing, saying they enjoy mutual strategic trust and both favor independence and an end to the status quo in the world order.
The Chinese defense minister also expressed his appreciation for the Islamic Republic’s principled positions regarding China’s international issues and the interests of the two nations, saying the two countries have a sincere and effective cooperation against the dominance of some countries.
“We believe that a good horizon lies ahead of us and that the Islamic Republic of Iran plays a good and constructive role in regional issues.”