Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) meets with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Feb. 19, 2019. 
How Hwee Young/Pool via REUTERS

Mohsen Shariatinia

Exodus by Big Firms Pushes Iran toward Smaller Chinese Enterprises

China is still Iran's top trade partner, leading oil customer, a key technology exporter, a major political ally and one of the signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) still committed to the deal. All of this has given Beijing an increasingly central position in Iran's "Look to the East" doctrine, a key foreign policy strategy actively pursued by the Islamic Republic after the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in May 2018....