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President Trump on Saturday warned China against providing weapons to Iran, saying Beijing would face “big problems” if it supplied arms to the Islamic Republic amid ongoing U.S. and Israeli military operations.
The warning came after the New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence officials suspect China is preparing to ship shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. The intelligence has not been verified, and there is no evidence that Chinese missiles have been used against U.S. or Israeli forces, according to the report.
Trump had planned a visit to Beijing in April but postponed it due to the Iran conflict. A newly announced U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz could push the rescheduled mid-May trip back further. The strait is a critical chokepoint for Middle East oil exports that China depends on heavily.
China and Iran deepened their relationship under a 2021 comprehensive strategic partnership, and Beijing supplied Tehran with a range of weapons before the current conflict, including air defense systems that largely failed to stop U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. Among them were HQ-9B long-range surface-to-air missile batteries, which proved ineffective as part of Iran’s integrated air defense network. American and Israeli strikes rapidly degraded those defenses in the early days of the conflict.
U.S. concerns about Chinese arms transfers to Iran date to the 1990s, when intelligence agencies discovered that Beijing had sold supersonic C-802 anti-ship missiles to Tehran. China was also close to delivering more advanced CM-302 supersonic anti-ship missiles before hostilities began, though it is unclear whether that sale was completed.
Beyond air defense and anti-ship systems, China is also accused of supplying Iran with precursor chemicals for rocket and missile production. Chinese state-owned vessels were suspected in early March of transporting sodium perchlorate, a key ingredient in solid rocket fuel.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington denied the allegations, telling CNN that China has not provided weapons to any party in the conflict and called the claims false. Beijing has consistently characterized its support for Iran as commercial or civilian in nature. Western officials and analysts, however, view it as a calculated effort to sustain Iran’s military capabilities and erode U.S. influence in the Middle East.
Read more: Trump warns China not to supply arms to Iran
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