China showing few signs it will directly supply arms to Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump’s assault on Iran has killed the country’s supreme leader and left it burning through missiles, but there’s little sign Tehran can count on Beijing to bolster its defenses.Reports have swirled in recent months of Chinese air defense systems destined for Iran alongside claims China is shipping missile propellant ingredients to the Islamic Republic, although neither side has publicly commented. After Trump’s strike, China’s Foreign Ministry dismissed a separate account that Beijing was poised to arm Iran with supersonic anti-ship missiles as “not true.”So far, there isn’t any evidence from the battlefield that Chinese weapons have been deployed, a contrast with the recent Thai-Cambodia border war and India-Pakistan conflict. Chinese President Xi Jinping has limited China’s public support to condemning the U.S. for attacking Tehran, which supplies about 13% of its seaborne crude.
