Working through fronts and proxies, Chinese state-tolerated actors persist in aiding Iran’s strategic arsenal, officials said.
A variety of international sanctions are in place against Iran’s nuclear project and missile program, but undercutting the effectiveness of these restrictions is the extensive and longstanding assistance Tehran is receiving from Chinese nationals.
Despite decades of legal and diplomatic action by the United States and other countries to impose export controls and non-proliferation agreements, U.S. court indictments and other government documentation show that Chinese business networks deliver products critical for sustaining Iran’s missile development and production.
Iran used its ballistic missile force extensively during the recent 12-day war with Israel, laying down heavy barrages against Israeli cities in retaliation for the latter’s strikes targeting Iran’s air defenses, nuclear program, and senior military leadership.
Most of the Iranian missiles were intercepted, but dozens made it through Israel’s defenses, including the Iron Dome, causing 30 deaths, injuring thousands, and wreaking significant damage. More than 1,000 Iranians, mostly military and government personnel, died in the war, which started on June 13 and ended in a U.S.-brokered cease-fire on June 24.
Though the Chinese foreign ministry in response to inquiries from Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom denied recent reports that Beijing had transferred military equipment to Iran following the conflict, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, expressed concerns that China may be helping Iran rebuild its missile arsenal in the wake of its losses.
Iran and Ballistic Missiles
Since the Iranian theocracy’s establishment in 1979, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been a key ally in the regime’s nuclear and missile ambitions, with Beijing providing critical nuclear technology and materials since the 1980s, as indicated by various partnerships between the two countries and Western government reports.
In 1985 and 1990, China and Iran inked secret nuclear research agreements, the details of which became known in the following years, a 2013 U.S.–China Security Review Commission report on Sino-Iranian nuclear cooperation notes. The Isfahan nuclear research complex in southwestern Iran, targeted by Israeli and U.S. airstrikes in the recent war, was constructed with Chinese involvement.
By Leo Timm
