ABSTRACT
Although China is a world power and its international position is much stronger than that of Iran, its leadership attaches great importance to cooperation with Tehran. The most important issue Iran and China share, in the post-revolutionary period, is their anti-American attitude. The 1979 revolution affected Sino-Iranian relations. Ruhollah Khomeini and his followers were very suspicious of states that had close ties to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and although the success of the revolutionary forces dealt a blow to Iran’s relations with China, the situation changed with the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980. Due to economic sanctions and an arms embargo, Iranians were forced to purchase military equipment made in the Russian Federation and China. Trade between China and Iran in 1978 was 20 times greater than in 1971. The revolution in Iran, as well as the Iran-Iraq war, slowed the trade in the 1980s.
