It's the 16th century ..wars over resources...Iran is considering a request by China to establish a military presence in the Persian Gulf.

Beijing's request for a Persian Gulf naval base debated in Iran

East-Asia-Intel.com, February 28, 2008

LONDON -- Iran is considering a request by China to establish a military presence in the Persian Gulf.

Western intelligence sources said China has requested the right to establish a naval presence at an Iranian port in the Gulf. The sources said Beijing relayed the request last year as part of a strategic dialogue with Teheran.

And when our patrolling destroyers find this, with J-10's overhead ...then what?

"There is a serious debate within Iran over whether to allow the Chinese to establish a presence in the Gulf," an intelligence source said. "The feeling is that a Chinese presence could help deter a U.S. attack."

Wouldn't the right piece of diplomacy right now be proper ... like Condi telling Hu Jintao that if we decide we need to strike Iran, all the Chinese PLAN can do is get killed, and cause a confrontation? That in no circumstances will it be a deterrent.

The sources said Teheran has been dismayed by the expanding Western presence in the Gulf. They cited the January 2008 agreement by the United Arab Emirates to allow France to establish a naval presence.

Kaveh Afrasiabi, a leading analyst on Iran, said China wants a naval presence in the Gulf to ensure energy imports from such suppliers as Iran and Saudi Arabia. China already has a naval presence in Pakistan.

"In the tight interplay of geopolitics and geo-economics, with China heavily dependent on energy imports from Iran and other Persian Gulf states, the trend is definitely toward China's naval complement of its flurry of energy deals in order to secure its precious oil and [liquefied] gas cargo ships exiting through the narrow corridors of the Strait of Hormuz," Afrasiabi wrote in a recent analysis.

China has become Iran's leading trade partner.

In 2007, China's largest oil refiner, Sinopec, completed a multi-billion dollar deal to develop the giant Yadavaran oil field.

At the same time, Chinese contractors have been constructing oil terminals for Iran in the Caspian Sea. The sources said Beijing has also provided radar and missile technology to Teheran.