US officials have raised with China the matter of Beijing providing Tehran with high resolution satellite images ahead of an attack on a US base in the Middle East, with the issue expected to come up again when President Donald Trump welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on September 24, according to AFP. Iran used the high resolution satellite imagery, supplied by Chinese entities, to carry out its July attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, which killed three US troops and wounded four others, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials who said Tehran received the images ahead of the 17 July strike. The officials did not name the specific Chinese entities involved and stopped short of suggesting the Chinese government was directly involved in supplying the imagery, though they described the incident as the most compelling evidence to date that Chinese support for Iran during the broader conflict may have had deadly consequences for American forces.
Iranian ballistic missiles struck a housing area at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in northeastern Jordan in July, with Iran also targeting manned and unmanned aircraft stationed at the base during the same strike. The attack marked the first US military deaths since an April ceasefire, heightening concerns in Washington about Iran’s growing ability to locate and strike American military sites with precision. Within three days of the attack, Iran released high resolution images showing damage to parts of the base, while separately available lower resolution satellite imagery showed that more than 20 structures had been damaged in the strike, giving outside analysts an independent basis for assessing the scale of the destruction described by both Iranian and US sources.
Chinese authorities have denied the allegations and asked US officials for evidence supporting the claim that Chinese entities supplied the targeting imagery. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, Liu Chang, accused unnamed critics of maliciously linking and smearing other countries by taking advantage of the conflict, adding that Chinese cooperation with Iran was in accordance with international law. US officials noted that Iran also relies on its own satellites, human intelligence sources, and imagery and intelligence support from Russia, suggesting that Chinese imagery was likely just one of several intelligence sources Iran drew on rather than the sole basis for the strike’s targeting.
In May, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on three companies, MizarVision, Earth Eye, and Chang Guang, for providing, collecting, or publishing imagery that Iran could use to target US forces, reflecting a pattern of US concern about Chinese commercial satellite firms that predates the July attack itself. US officials have also expressed concern that China may be assisting Iran in tracking American naval assets, with officials noting that Iran’s ability to strike moving US warships appeared to be improving even though recent Iranian attacks on US ships had failed, according to US Central Command. In recent weeks, US officials have briefed congressional intelligence committees on alleged support that both Russia and China are providing to Iran, though the Trump administration has publicly played down the impact of Chinese assistance, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, following discussions with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, declining to say directly whether Beijing was providing Iran with targeting information and stating that nothing China has done has changed the trajectory of the conflict.
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