China and Iran

The friendly exchanges between China and Iran date back to the 2nd century B.C. Gan Ying, an envoy dispatched by Ban Chao reached the territory of Iran (Arsacid dynasty), opening up a transportation route from China to ancient Rome via Iran. Since then, the peoples of China and Iran have maintained exchanges. On August 16, 1971, China and Iran established diplomatic relations. In January 2016, President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Iran and the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership.

In addition to the above visit, visits from the Chinese side to Iran in recent years mainly include: Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (March 2021), Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council Zhang Guoqing (May and December 2024), and Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Peng Qinghua (July 2024), among others. Visits from the Iranian side to China mainly include: President Hassan Rouhani (June 2018), Speaker of the Islamic Parliament Ali Larijani (February 2019), President Ebrahim Raisi (February 2023), Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani (March 2023), First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber (November 2023), and Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyyed Abbas Araghchi (December 2024), among others.

Bilateral cooperation in various fields has been advancing steadily. In 2024, the trade volume between China and Iran reached USD 13.37 billion, of which China's exports amounted to USD 8.93 billion and imports totaled USD 4.44 billion. In March 2021, China and Iran signed a comprehensive cooperation plan. In January 2022, the two sides announced the launch of the implementation of the comprehensive cooperation plan.

The two countries have close people-to-people and cultural exchanges. China and Iran have actively carried out cultural exchanges within the framework of the agreement on cultural, scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries, and art groups of the two sides have conducted mutual visits and participated in art activities in each other's countries on many occasions. The University of Tehran (October 2007) and the University of Mazandaran (November 2016) have established Confucius Institutes respectively, and five universities in Iran offer Chinese language programs. Chinese universities such as Peking University and Beijing Foreign Studies University offer Persian language programs. Since January 2024, the "Treasures From Iran" exhibition organized by the Iranian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts opened in Beijing, Shanghai and Urumqi successively, and the "Five-Millennia Persian Culture and Art" exhibition took place in Chengdu, Guangzhou and Nanjing in succession. Since 2005, Iran has become an outbound destination for package tours of Chinese citizens. In August 2011, group tours for Chinese citizens to Iran were officially launched. In July 2019, Iran introduced a unilateral visa-free policy for Chinese citizens.