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US-Iran crisis: How China gains from Donald Trump’s Middle East blunder
- Conflict between Tehran and Washington has profound implications for Asia-Pacific economies dependent on the Gulf for oil
- But it strengthens Beijing’s hand in the region and provides cover for a greater Chinese military presence
Reading Time:8 minutes
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The growing tensions between Iran and the United States are of deep concern to Asia-Pacific economies that look to the Gulf for energy supplies – but as China looks to avert more conflict in the region, there are diplomatic opportunities and strategic gains on the cards for Beijing.
As the body of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani was laid to rest early on Wednesday, Iran stepped up its confrontation with the United States by launching 22 ballistic missiles at two military bases used by American troops in Iraq.
Iranian foreign affairs minister Javad Sharif described the response to the US assassination of Tehran’s top general as “proportionate measures in self-defence”, and said Iran was not seeking further escalation or war.
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US President Donald Trump also seemed satisfied to let matters rest there, for the time being, because no US personnel were killed or injured in the Iranian missile attack. “All is well!” he tweeted.
The US ordered the drone-borne assassination of Soleimani after a December 27 rocket attack by Iran-allied Iraqi Shiite militia on a military base near Kirkuk claimed the life of an American contractor.
But the social media of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the parent organisation of Soleimani’s Quds Force, was far less restrained in its outlook. “The attacks on the Ain al-Assad and Arbil bases are, in fact, attacks on the command and control infrastructure, detection, radar, electronic warfare and, more so, the American brains, eyes and ears in the region,” it said.
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