December 4, The Iran Project – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs says the economic relations of Iran and China have been strengthened in post-sanction era, referring to China as Iran’s first trade partner.

Iran will never cut off its relations with China since the two countries have some common interests, Ebrahim Rahimpour stressed, referring to Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s planned trip to China in which Iran-China trade officials will negotiate.

Pointing to China’s stance on the US Senate vote to extend the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA), he said P5 + 1 partners are against the renewal of anti-Tehran sanctions by Washington.

The US Senate on Thursday passed a 10-year extension of sanctions against Iran, sending the measure to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law.

But the US cannot act alone since the nuclear deal is a multilateral agreement that also involved the UK, France, Russia, Germany China, and the European Union. If the US decides to extend Iran bans, it has to convince its allies to do so as well. But given the momentum the agreement already has and the desire many countries have to do business with Tehran, that woul extremely face difficulties.