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Source: Arabia.net – Saleh Hamid
Simon Watkins, a British journalist specializing in economics and finance, who was the first to reveal the details of the 25-year-old Iran-China deal, confirmed in a new article that China intends to establish a spy and surveillance center in Iran.
Watkins said, in an article published on the Oil Price website, that the next phase of the agreement between the two countries will focus on the widespread deployment of China’s espionage and electronic warfare capabilities, especially in the vicinity of the port of Chabahar. overlooking the Sea of Oman, southeast of Iran, adding that the region This Chinese influence will extend for about 5,000 kilometers.
Watkins confirmed that senior sources close to the Iranian government revealed to “Oil Price” that the project includes the establishment of a collective monitoring system for the Iranian population that resembles the monitoring procedures adopted in China.
A cornerstone of the Belt and Road
And he believed this coincides with Beijing’s strategic vision of Iran as a “client state” working fully with China for the next 25 years to become an important geographic and geopolitical cornerstone that cannot be dispensed with, in the framework of the “One Belt, One Road” project that it adopts. China.
Work on Iran’s collective population monitoring and control systems is scheduled to begin from the second week of November, after final agreement on the sequence of actions was reached in the third week of October at a meeting. between senior officials of the Revolutionary Guard and Iranian intelligence services and their Chinese counterparts. According to the report.
According to Iranian sources, the Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei, already approved the general plans last July, which include placing about 10 million surveillance cameras in the seven most populous cities of Iran, in addition to another five million cameras in another 21 cities.
Last year, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Chinese counterpart Wang Li agreed on a draft strategic cooperation agreement.
100% Iranian factories in China
Beijing intends to build factories and companies in Iran using Chinese-run machinery, technology and production lines, according to an Iranian source, saying: “It would look exactly as if a central Chinese factory was taken over by a giant hand and then be placed in Iran. Like Apple, which is what it says. ” Operating in China or Chinese companies operating in different African countries.
Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri presented the project of this partnership with Beijing to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the end of last year, then announced that Iran had signed a contract with China to implement a project to electrify the main 900 km railway line. connecting the capital, Tehran, with the city of Mashhad. Northeast.
He added that there are also plans to establish a high-speed train line between Tehran, Qom and Isfahan and to expand this network to northwestern Iran via Tabriz.
A greater military presence
Parallel to the monitoring network and factories, China hopes that the end of the international arms embargo imposed on Iran on October 18 will begin preparations for a greater military presence in Iran as part of the “integrated defense strategy between China and Iran. “, which is one of the terms of the 25-year agreement.
According to Oil Price, military equipment and personnel from China and Russia will be deployed to Iran from the second week of next November. These forces will be deployed to oil and gas facilities where Chinese and Russian companies still operate, despite US sanctions on Iran.
Notably, Iran is home to a host of technologies, equipment and systems that come from both China and Russia, including technologies for gathering intelligence and defense information.
According to Iranian sources, the military package equipment to be deployed to Iran will include the Russian S-400 anti-missile air defense system and the Krasukha-2 and 4 systems that have proven successful in Syria, Watkins wrote.
50 thousand Chinese soldiers
He also indicated that this process would begin with “dual-use facilities” built for this purpose next to the current airports of Hamadan, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar and Abadan.
At the same time, Chinese and Russian military ships will be able to use newly created dual-use facilities in the main Iranian ports of Chabahar, Bandar Bushehr and Bandar Abbas, which were built by Chinese companies.
He stressed that there are around 5,000 Chinese security personnel on the ground now in Iran to protect Chinese projects, and many of them will be air force pilots, officers of warships and submarines, officers of special forces. and intelligence officers, in addition to military personnel.
This number will increase to nearly 50,000 new Chinese and Russian military personnel in the next 14 months, and about half of this number will focus on developing and protecting Chinese oil and gas assets in Iran, with the other half going to the air force. , according to what the website quoted from an Iranian source. .
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