Geopolitical Consequences of Expanding China-Turkey Relations on the Iran

Iran's regional and trans-regional rivals, especially over the past two decades, have been destroying Iran's vast geopolitical opportunities. These efforts have already been pursued with US encouragement and investment in projects such as Trans-Caspian, "Tapi" and the "Habshan–Fujairah" oil pipeline. Now, the People's Republic of China is making similar efforts to thwart Iran's geopolitics. From this point of view, the expansion of China-Turkey economic cooperation in recent years can be seen as a new threat to Iran's geopolitical neutralization. The linking of the Belt and Road project as an important overseas project of the Chinese government with the Middle Corridor as an important Turkish overseas project has in recent years brought the two countries closer together. The closer proximity of the two countries seems likely to undermine Iran's geopolitics and create a new and important path for East-West Asia to connect. The main question of this article is the impact of increased cooperation between China and Turkey and in particular the connection of the Belt and Road Project with the Middle Corridor on the geopolitical position of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The paper suggests that linking China's Belt and Road project with Turkey Middle Corridor project would be similar to US geopolitical neutralization of Iran and versus Iran's geopolitical position.