“On October 1, the Chinese people will celebrate the 71st anniversary of the foundation of New China and the Mid-Autumn Festival,” Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in a Chinese-language post on his official Twitter page on Tuesday, according to Press TV.

He wrote, “2020 is a very special year for the whole world,” adding, “China’s success in controlling the [coronavirus] epidemic and achieving a strong economic recovery was hard-won.”

The top Iranian diplomat also wished China and its people more prosperity, expressing hope that the prospects of the comprehensive strategic partnership between Tehran and Beijing will be broader.

Relations between Iran and China go as far back as the ancient Silk Road, but they are gaining strategic significance because the West’s refusal to work with Iran under the US pressure, on the one side, and its efforts to stop China’s economic and political rise, on the other, is automatically pushing Tehran and Beijing into an alliance.

Since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, American businesses have been prevented from trade with Iran, while their European counterparts have withdrawn amid US threat of sanctions following Washington’s withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1. That has helped Chinese companies move in and fill the void.

As a result, Iran and China have forged a unique partnership which is almost impossible or not easily viable with any other country.

The two sides have been in talks to finalize a 25-year roadmap for strategic partnership over the past months.

The Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was announced in a joint statement during a visit to Tehran by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2016.

The cooperation roadmap consists of 20 articles, covering Tehran-Beijing ties in political, executive cooperation, Human and Cultural, Judiciary, Security and Defense, and Regional and International domains, according to the statement released back then.

Back in mid-June, The Chicago Tribune daily newspaper reported that the 25-year strategic cooperation agreement being negotiated between Iran and China amounts to a “massive failure” of US “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic.

China, meanwhile, remains Iran’s biggest oil client despite Washington’s bid to bring Tehran’s exports down to zero. The oil money is deposited in Chinese banks, and the assets are used to fund development projects carried out in the Islamic Republic.