TEHRAN – A visiting delegation from China’s Ministry of National Defenseheld talks with Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force BrigadierGeneral Kiomars Heidari on boosting the defense ties between Tehran andBeijing.link>link>link>[image: Iranian Army Commander, Chinese Military Delegation Meet in Tehran]link>

Sixteen senior officers from the Chinese Ground Force, Navy, and Air Forceattended the meeting with Brigadier General Heidari in Tehran on Tuesday.

In his remarks, the Iranian commander praised the bilateral relationsbetween Iran and China as age-old and said the two countries are major andinfluential powers in the region and the world.

He further emphasized that Tehran and Beijing face common threats at theregional and international levels, including the US government’s hegemonicsystem which is “the biggest threat to humanity”.

Iran and China have close diplomatic, economic, trade and energy ties, andin recent years have developed their military relations as well.

Back in November 2016, the defense ministers of Iran and China signed anagreement in Tehran to enhance the defense cooperation between the twocountries.

The agreement entailed closer defense-military cooperation between Tehranand Beijing, sharing military experience, particularly in the field oftraining, as well as combatting terrorism and causes of regional insecurity.