Iranian press has reported a new contract reached by the Iranian Transport Ministry and Aviation Authority with an unnamed Chinese company to expand the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran. The cost of the contract, equivalent to US$2.7 billion, will be covered by Iranian oil shipments to China. This is the first “oil for construction” contract which paves the way for the “trade without currency” advocated by Lyndon LaRouche since 2000. This mechanism will also circumvent the unilateral sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the EU on Iran. The only potential reaction from the U.S. would be to impose sanctions on Chinese companies involved in the construction or supply material for this airport project.
This major breakthrough, which is beyond the question of de-dollarization and using local currencies and is reminiscent of the LaRouche’s “oil for technology” policy of the 1970s, is also the first attempt since the abortion of the Iraq-China “oil for reconstruction” agreement struck in September 2019, after which Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi was overthrown in a color revolution. Details of that agreement and how it was sabotaged were explained in an interview with the author (Hussein Askary) in EIR in January 2020, following the assassination of Iranian military leader Ghasem Soleimani in Baghdad upon orders by President Donald Trump. This was the final nail in the coffin of the Iraqi government and the deal with China. “Iran, Iraq and the World in This Moment of Crisis": https://larouchepub.com/other/2020/4702-iran_iraq_world_crisis.html
The oil for construction mechanism includes important elements of Hamiltonian credit, which Paul Gallagher explains separately in the above interview.
The latest China-Iran contract is clearly part of the 25-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement signed in March 2021. Most of the economic cooperation will potentially be carried out in this manner of “oil for construction” and “oil for technology.”
Tasnim News Agency and other Iranian media gave only scanty details of the contract but confirmed its existence. (https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2023/08/27/2947863/iran-finalizes-bartering-deal-of-oil-with-china-to-develop-ikia ).
