News of a massive increase in Chinese foreign investment in Iran has ricocheted across Asia, threatening to upset the geopolitical status quo and causing pundits to spill much ink over the implications. Details about the deal, which purportedly involves $400 billion in Chinese investments in infrastructure and other sectors in Iran over the next 25 years in return for access to a steady supply of discounted Iranian oil, was leaked by Iran and then neither confirmed nor denied by Beijing.

To many, the move represents a failure of the US policy of “maximum pressure” designed to economically isolate Iran. To others, shocked by the brazen scale of the deal, the move suggests that China believes that it has little to lose in its otherwise deepening economic disputes with the US.

In this Policy Brief, Dr. Rick Rowden, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer in the School of International Studies at American University and author of the forthcoming book “India-Africa Economic Relations in the 21st Century: Emerging Connections in South-South Economics,” offers his insights on how the China-Iran deal impacts the economic integration and geopolitical balance in the region.

Read the full Policy Brief here.