Despite unilateral sanctions imposed by Washington, China received its first imports of Iranian crude oil for the year 2022 on Thursday according to customs data.

In December alone, China imported 260,312 tonnes of Iranian crude oil as seen in data released by the General Administration of Chinese Customs.

Further highlighting the extent of the Sino-Iranian cooperation, the number of daily oil barrels imports has reached 500,000 on average between August and October of last year, which displays a clear willingness to challenge US sanctions notably as the cheap price of Iran’s crude far outweighs any punitive measures imposed by the White House.

Thus far, imports from Iran have constituted 6% of Beijing’s crude oil imports.

These numbers come on the heels of the comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement signed between Iran and China in March 27, 2021, in Tehran and which has recently come into force.

During his visit to Beijing last week, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian agreed with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on beginning the cooperation as per the agreement starting Friday.

The agreement chiefly focuses on China’s continuous import of Iranian crude oil, the development of multi-faceted transportation, developments in the fields of agricultural production as well as the improvement of military, defense and security cooperation on multiple levels.

Such a step is assuredly going to have regional and international impacts, notably as Iran is heavily refocusing its foreign policy strategy on Asia and China primordially.