MEHR NEWS AGENCY - Mon 14 November 2016
Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan said the development of long-term defense-military relations and cooperation with China is considered as Iran's top priority in defense diplomacy. Dehghan officially welcomed Chinese Minister of Defense Chang Wanquan on Monday and discussed international and regional issues with his Chinese counterpart . Pointing to Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Tehran in late January, Dehghan said presidents of Iran and China agreed to expand defense-military cooperation and to fight against terrorism within the framework of comprehensive cooperation. He underlined that Iran gives top priority to promoting long-term defense-military relations and cooperation with China. Describing Iran-China defense-military cooperation as a guarantee for international and regional peace and security, Dehghan said maintaining peace and stability in Asia-Pacific region is responsibility of all countries in the region. Today, he added, the region has turned into the epicenter of the crisis and insecurity in the world due to foreign interference and lack of respect for national sovereignty. It has led to the spread of terrorism around the world, he underlined. Chang Wanquan, for his part, expressed satisfaction with his visit to Iran, saying Iran is a great country with an ancient civilization and a distinguished position in political, security, military, economic and cultural fields. Iran and China enjoy shared interests and mutual understanding on various regional and global issues to completely pave the way for the development of defense-military cooperation between the two countries. Chinese defense minister referring to Dehghan's trip to China on 2014, highly regarded Iran-China's relations and underlined the need for the expansion and deepening of defense cooperation with the implementation of military agreements signed between the two countries. Iran and China also signed an agreement on Monday to hold joint military drills and to cooperate in fighting terrorism, seeking to "create a collective movement to confront this threat." In addition to the joint military training exercises, Iran and China of terrorism. The two nations have upgraded their military ties in recent years, with each country's naval ships visiting the other's ports.
