MNA � Iran�s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said no 25-year strategic deal has been signed with China, rejecting the claims that Iran has granted especial rights to the East Asian country under such agreement.

�The comprehensive agreement with China has remained at the level of a proposal, and no agreement has been signed to that effect,� Zarif added.

Referring to the claims of granting special rights to China under the claimed deal, Zarif said, "This is fundamentally wrong."

The UK-based magazine Petroleum Economist had raised such speculation saying that Iran and China had updated a 25-year deal signed first in 2016 that foresaw $400 billion of Chinese investment in the resource-rich Middle Eastern nation.

The refuted update came during a visit at the end of August by Zarif to Beijing where his Chinese counterpart State Councilor Wang Yi called the two countries as �comprehensive strategic partners�.

"China will also be able to buy any and all oil, gas and petrochemical products at a minimum guaranteed discount of 12pc to the six-month rolling mean price of comparable benchmark products, plus another 6pc to 8pc of that metric for risk-adjusted compensation," it added.