The agreement brokered by Wang Yi, China’s highest-ranking diplomat, between his Saudi and Iranian colleagues is a great leap forward for Beijing’s superpower status in a region that is key to its oil and gas supplies — and a slap in the face for Washington. 

China under President Xi Jinping has become the main economic competitor to America worldwide, but never had it risked its  weight in a political stake, such as giving international legitimacy to Iran, which the United States and many in the West view as a pariah state. 

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman gave precedence to OPEC+ over NATO when he refused to increase oil production at the behest of US President Joe Biden. The China-brokered peace process with Iran came as the next step in the general “dis-alignment” of a number of traditionally pro-Western global south states. Many of them declined to vote for the resolution against Russia at the UN.  

As for Iran, which provides the Russian military with killer drones,  it is comforted in its status as a key member in the iron-clad coalition of illiberal states. China has now extended its influence over the Islamic Republic — right after President Ebrahim Raisi’s Feb. 14 visit to Beijing and subsequent Iranian inclusion in the Road and Belt initiative to help its Western embargoed economy.