Chinese companies may have been planning covert arms shipments to Iran — NYT
Chinese companies discussed possible schemes for selling weapons to Iran, using transit countries to conceal the origin of the shipments.
The New York Times reported this, citing sources.
“The United States has gathered intelligence indicating that Chinese companies and Iranian officials discussed arms shipments. It is unclear how many weapons were delivered, if any, and to what extent Chinese officials approved the sales,” the article states.
It was expected that the White House chief would address this issue at the summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Similar information regarding assistance to Tehran has surfaced more than once, but Beijing has denied it.
Officials familiar with intelligence data have reached differing conclusions as to whether weapons have already been shipped to third countries. However, it appears that no Chinese weapons have been used on the battlefield against American or Israeli forces since the start of the war against Iran in late February.
According to the NYT, U.S. officials consider China’s efforts to supply military equipment to Iran unacceptable and want the Chinese government to block any arms transfers.
Read also: The Qatari tanker Al Kharaitiyat, loaded with LNG, became the first vessel from the country to successfully navigate the blocked Strait of Hormuz since the start of the full-scale conflict with Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz has once again come to a near standstill.
Recall that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not consider the war with Iran to be over.
Official Tehran refused to participate in the second round of peace talks with the United States, which were to take place in Islamabad.
Iran rejected Trump’s claims regarding the transfer of uranium to the U.S. and accused him of manipulation.
