MNA – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said no 25-year strategic deal has been signed with China, rejecting the claims that Iran has granted especial rights to the East Asian country under such agreement.

“The comprehensive agreement with China has remained at the level of a proposal, and no agreement has been signed to that effect,” Zarif added.

Referring to the claims of granting special rights to China under the claimed deal, Zarif said, "This is fundamentally wrong."

The UK-based magazine Petroleum Economist had raised such speculation saying that Iran and China had updated a 25-year deal signed first in 2016 that foresaw $400 billion of Chinese investment in the resource-rich Middle Eastern nation.

The refuted update came during a visit at the end of August by Zarif to Beijing where his Chinese counterpart State Councilor Wang Yi called the two countries as “comprehensive strategic partners”.

"China will also be able to buy any and all oil, gas and petrochemical products at a minimum guaranteed discount of 12pc to the six-month rolling mean price of comparable benchmark products, plus another 6pc to 8pc of that metric for risk-adjusted compensation," it added.