Khamenei is dead. But China’s ties with Iran will endure. Here’s why

South China Morning Post · Mar 1, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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China has strongly condemned the killing of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which has left Tehran in turmoil and the Middle East facing a major regional escalation.However, analysts believe that China’s position as Iran’s top oil buyer and trade partner will endure through any political upheaval.They also expect Beijing to adopt a pragmatic approach towards Iran’s next leadership, despite the potential threat to Chinese diplomatic and defence ambitions in the Middle East should Tehran now pivot to the West.The death of Khamenei, 86, in a joint US-Israeli air strike was confirmed by Iran’s state media on Sunday. It ends nearly four decades of his singular dominance and casts uncertainty over the Islamic Republic’s political future.US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for regime change in Iran. “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” he urged the Iranian public on social media on Saturday.Alireza Arafi, a hardline figure within Iran’s clerical establishment, has been appointed to a three-member temporary leadership council, alongside reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and hardliner judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei. The body is tasked with fulfilling the supreme leader’s role until the Assembly of Experts – Iran’s 88-member panel of Islamic jurists – elects a new leader.