The story: Pro-government media outlets in Iran are talking up President Ebrahim Raisi's landmark trip to China. The three-day visit comes as the Islamic Republic hopes to enhance relations in line with its "Look to the east" doctrine. Yet, the much-touted 25-year strategic cooperation agreement between the two nations has yet to be implemented on the scale its supporters had seemingly been expecting.

Meanwhile, hours before Raisi was due to leave for Beijing, Iran’s Guardian Council announced that the legal process of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has been formally completed.

The coverage: The Chinese foreign ministry announced on Feb. 12 that Raisi would be in China on Feb. 14-16.

• Reza Zabib, director of the Asia and Oceania Department at the Iranian foreign ministry, said that Raisi's trip would mark the first state visit to China by an Iranian president "in two decades."
  
  
• People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, published an article by Raisi on Feb. 13 in which the Iranian president said Tehran "will always pursue...