By Alireza Hashemi
A Brazilian geopolitical analyst has hailed Iran’s accession to BRICS as a “masterstroke” of diplomacy, saying it will allow the country to reap great benefits in trade and transit.
Pepe Escobar, speaking to the Press TV website, said Iran has been increasingly working in sync with the Russia-China strategic partnership, as evidenced by its inclusion in the Shanghai Security Organization (SCO), and this strategic relationship helped prepare the ground for its BRICS membership.
“Iran is in total sync with the Russia-China strategic partnership. India was also from the start in favor of Iran’s admission, because of the International North-South Transport Corridor,” he said, referring to a transit route connecting Northern Europe to South Asia VIA Iran that is being completed.
However, what made Iran one of the first additions to BRICS was its “excellent diplomatic work”, the prominent geopolitical analyst and journalist, who has authored ‘Raging Twenties’ among other books.
“For Iran, this is a masterstroke. This was done thanks to excellent diplomatic work by the Iranian foreign ministry,” he noted in conversation with the Press TV website.
Escobar said Iran’s BRICS membership allows the country to reap many benefits, including in the fields of trade and transit.
“The possibilities of increased trade for Iran are limitless. Now BRICS even includes former Iran foes Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” he remarked.
“Also centrality of Iran in Eurasia is reaffirmed and this strengthens Iran’s transit potential. Both BRICS and INSTC may profit Iran in leaps and bounds from now on.”
Escobar further said the accession also helps boost Iran’s image worldwide and offers ways to further improve the country’s soft power.
“Iran should improve its soft power in Africa and South America, where it is viewed with deep respect by the overwhelming majority of public opinion,” he said.
Pertinently, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raeisi recently toured both Latin America and Africa where he was received warmly and entered a series of ambitious agreements with several countries.
The analyst said there are still challenges to Iran-BRICS cooperation, particularly over Western sanctions, which need to be dealt with.
“The question to solve is the New Development Bank, which is still prevented from issuing large loans bypassing the US dollar because of the bank’s statutes,” Escobar remarked.
“Further on down the road, the NDB can be not only helpful in loans for Iran but also financing Syria reconstruction.”
The New Development Bank of BRICS is deemed an important economic pillar of the influential bloc, which was established in 2014 with the aim of forging convergence among independent countries.
The Shanghai-headquartered bank was set up initially with a capital of $100 billion to finance infrastructure projects in BRICS member countries and other emerging markets.
Any moment now I am expecting John Cleese (a veteran of Monty Python) to jump out of the bushes and announce the creation of the Ministry of Silly Wars, with Donald Trump as the deranged leader. For you youngsters out there, Monty Python’s skit, The Ministry of Silly Walks, helped make the members of MP legends. I had to reference Monty Python because the line of bullshit the Trump administration is feeding the American people and the world about the amazing, obliterating US attack on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning, is more ridiculous that all of the silly walks pictured in the following video:
My hopes that Donald Trump would finally act like a responsible adult are dashed. He’s a dangerous buffoon. While the team around him are working frantically to maintain the fiction that Trump has a vision and is calling the shots on the foreign policy front, he is careening around the globe like an out-of-control cue ball on a billiards table. It started a week ago… first, he claimed...
Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the launch of the Fujian, China's first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults. Official media said China is about to enter a three-aircraft-carrier era, with the Fujian expected to enter service by 2025.
After the launch of the Fujian on June 17, 2022, it carried out its first sea trial from May 1 to 8 in 2024. Since then, the Fujian has completed multiple sea trials, accumulating more than 100 days of sea trial, China Central Television (CCTV) News reported on Tuesday.
Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military affairs commentator, said that the aircraft carrier Fujian has been making steady progress in sea trials, and is expected to be commissioned within this year, CCTV News reported.
With a full displacement of more than 80,000 tons, the Fujian is the world's first conventionally powered aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic catapult technologies, according to CCTV News. The report noted that it will carry a wide variety of carrier-borne...
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China and Central Asian countries have explored and formed the China-Central Asia Spirit, which features mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance, and the pursuit of common modernization through high-quality development.
Xi made the remarks in his speech at the second China-Central Asia Summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
Xi said that the Chinese side has decided to establish three cooperation centers and a trade facilitation platform within the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism.
When addressing the summit, Xi said these institutions include the China-Central Asia poverty reduction cooperation center, the China-Central Asia education exchange cooperation center, the China-Central Asia desertification control cooperation center, as well as the China-Central Asia trade facilitation cooperation....more below
