President Donald Trump warned Chinese President Xi Jinping during Washington talks that support for Iran is unacceptable, with the U.S. ambassador stating Beijing assured officials it is not assisting Tehran. The diplomatic friction unfolds amid conflicting reports over Chinese satellite intelligence, weapons shipments, and sanctions evasion in the Middle East conflict.
Washington Talks and U.S. Envoy Assurances
President Donald Trump raised the issue of Chinese support for Iran during a high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House on September 24, followed by a lavish state dinner. According to U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue, Trump told Xi directly in Washington, DC, this week that any direct or indirect backing for Tehran is totally unacceptable.
While the White House has not publicly detailed whether Trump confronted Xi over the allegations in their private talks, Perdue stated in a CNBC interview and separately on Fox News that U.S. officials received assurances from Beijing on September 24 that China would not provide support to Iran. Appearing on Fox News’ America's Newsroom
program, Perdue noted that officials observed movement on the issue and that Beijing committed to halting assistance.
“We’ve seen movement … on that already. That’s what the commitment is. They assured us yesterday they’re not doing that,”
Trump later on September 25 acknowledged that the two leaders discussed the war that the United States and Israel launched on Iran in late February, without giving details. Trump said the two had a “great meetingon September 24, adding he and Xi
have made tremendous strides on the issues facing our two countries.” China’s official Xinhua news agency said that during the meeting Xi called on Iran and the United States to resolve their problems through dialogue as soon as possible.
Despite those diplomatic assurances, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on September 25 that Chinese officials have assured Iran that even after the Trump-Xi meeting China will not limit its economic, political or military ties with Tehran under pressure from the U.S. president.
Lawmaker Pressure Over Satellite Imagery and Weapons
The summit followed intense pressure from U.S. lawmakers and national-security experts pressing President Donald Trump to take tougher action against Chinese entities accused of helping Iran with satellite intelligence, weapons components, and oil revenue. In the days leading up to the summit, lawmakers warned that Washington risks encouraging deeper cooperation between Beijing and Tehran if it fails to impose costs.
Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke on the Senate floor the day Xi arrived, stating, This summer, it was all over the press that China gave Iran satellite imagery intelligence and that intelligence led to the death of American troops. So, I would certainly suggest that the president try to get an answer to that. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and 18 other Democratic senators accused Trump of failing to hold Xi accountable for Chinese companies’ alleged support for Iran. Shaheen had earlier called on Trump to crack down on three areas of alleged Chinese support: satellite imagery and targeting assistance, components for Iranian missiles and drones, and purchases of sanctioned Iranian oil.
A group of Democratic lawmakers who are all veterans of the armed services—including Reps. Pat Ryan, Seth Moulton, Ted Lieu, Chrissy Houlahan, Jason Crow and eight other Democrats—wrote a letter to the White House on Monday urging Trump to challenge Xi. The letter cited a Sept. 11 Wall Street Journal report that a U.S. assessment found that a Chinese company’s provision of satellite imagery supported an Iranian strike on an airbase in Jordan in July, in which three U.S. soldiers died. Our servicemembers are paying the price in blood for this administration's pathetic refusal to confront Beijing,
the lawmakers wrote in the letter, which they shared with ABC News.
Rep. John Moolenaar, an influential Republican on China policy as the chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said Chinese cooperation with the Iranian military resulting in American casualties is tantamount to an act of war against the United States.
In a separate letter addressed to the president last week, Moolenaar wrote the reported link between Chinese imagery and lethal Iranian attacks mark[s] a dramatic unilateral escalation.
The State Department in May sanctioned four China-based entities for providing satellite imagery that enables Iran's military strikes against U.S. forces in the Middle East,
noting that one company collected images during the war of U.S. facilities at Iran’s request.
Sanctions Evasion, Oil Purchases, and Missile Launchers
Beyond intelligence sharing, tensions persisted over military hardware and economic ties amid reports that China had supplied Iran with shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers and that Tehran had found ways to evade sanctions on its oil sales with Chinese help. Reuters reported in July that Iran was expected to receive within weeks a first shipment out of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers. Iran has also used a barter-like arrangement to bypass sanctions on its oil sales and buy billions of dollars’ worth of goods from China, including military gear, two senior Iranian sources and three other people familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this month.
