First Train From China Arrived In Iran

First cargo train from China to Iran completed its 6,462 -mile journey from Zhejiang province just south of Shanghai on China’s eastern coast to Tehran, signaling Iran’s firm integration in the Beijing led-Belt and Road connectivity initiative along the New Silk Road.
About One Belt, One Road (OBOR)

"One Belt One Road" is an integrated blueprint of the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR). China’s soaring vision envisages that the Silk Roads, once completed, would impact 4.4 billion people and, within a decade, generate trade above $2.5 trillion. The “belt and road” run through the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting the vibrant East Asian economic circle at one end with the developed European economic circle at the other Specifically, the SREB focusses on bringing together China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe (the Baltic); linking China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through Central Asia and West Asia; and connecting China with South-East Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean. The 21st-Century MSR, in turn, is designed to go from China’s coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, and from China’s coast through the South China Sea to the South Pacific in the other. On land, the initiative will focus on jointly building a new Eurasian Land Bridge and developing China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Central Asia-West Asia and China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridors. China identifies specific gateways that will connect China with other Silk Road economies. Xinjiang province in the west will be the connecting hub for Central, South and West Asian countries. It would be one of the terminals of the Pakistan-China economic corridor.

Analysis:

• Iran is currently in desperate need of investment for infrastructure construction. As oil prices are low now, Iran’s revenue has seen sharp decrease. Iran is expecting investment from China through this route.
• China anticipate that with the recent lifting of sanctions, Iran’s energy infrastructure, including its trans-border pipeline network, will grow.
• China sees the route as a piece of the larger One Belt, One Road initiative. Iran, for its part, is intent on becoming a regional rail hub, seeing Chinese trains continue on to Europe via its territory. Tehran also has the potential to link up with the trans-Caspian transit route being touted by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine as another way to Europe. With the shortened time–a month and a half from Shanghai to Bander Abbas by sea and half a month by rail.
• This will likely to further deepen Tehran’s strategic linkages with Eurasia.
• Iran has its common borders “with 15 nations, and sea channels on its northern and southwestern coasts.
• It is expected to play a crucial role in the Belt and Road as an energy hub and access to extensive delivery routes connecting to the Middle East and Eurasia
• During the sanctions phase, China’s energy giants had provided technical support to Iranian firms for the development of oil and gas fields in Iran.

By: Vishal