US intelligence assessments have found that satellite data and intelligence support from Chinese groups have significantly enhanced Iran’s precision-strike and vessel-tracking capabilities across the Middle East.
President Trump made that very clear again yesterday. “Getting reps on the battlefield helps, but getting a helping hand helps a lot too. They also claimed that China has equipped Iran with air defence systems. Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Washington for a summit with US President Donald Trump. “We made it very clear to them weeks ago that, you know, any help that they would give Iran, whether it be direct or indirect, whether it be intelligence or parts or military equipment, was totally unacceptable.
Because we’ve essentially given them more time to train, another source said, “They’re getting better.
The sources said that the strike on the US base in Jordan that killed three US service members was with a level of precision that was beyond Iran’s domestic capabilities. One of the officials said that Chinese geospatial data has helped Iran with its missile and drone strikes on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran uses this data to precisely time drone launches, allowing even their basic, non-maneuverable heat-seeking models to threaten ships, according to two additional sources. “There’s a reason that their targeting has improved, and it is due to some assistance,” one of the sources said. During candid talks at the White House, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said on Friday that any help given to Iran was “totally unacceptable”. This is an ongoing drumbeat,” Perdue said in an interview with CNBC.
Earlier in the month, a report by The Wall Street Journal found that the deadly Iranian ballistic missile strike followed months of unheeded warnings from the Trump administration to Beijing regarding Chinese firms supplying targeting data to Tehran.
