Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping repeatedly has professed “zero tolerance” for terrorism. But despite his condemnation of such deeds and calls for international measures to curtail them, recent reports show Chinese entities supplying Iran with materials and intelligence that can support terrorist acts.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called terrorism “an all-out assault on civilization itself.” Meanwhile, Iran remains the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, “facilitating a wide range of terrorist and other illicit activities in the United States and globally,” the U.S. State Department reported in December 2024.
Among possible incentives cited for the growing bond between Beijing and Tehran: shared animosity toward the West; China’s self-portrayal as a Middle East power broker; mutually beneficial trade relations; and their membership in BRICS, the informal economic and geopolitical bloc that also includes Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa, among others.
“Chinese entities and individuals have provided support to Iran’s ballistic missile program, as well as to the Houthis’ missile and UAV [uncrewed aerial vehicle] production efforts, which is why we continue to identify and sanction them,” a U.S. State Department official told The Wall Street Journal newspaper in June 2025.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), established after the 1979 Iranian Revolution as the regime’s armed defender, supports regional militant groups including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Yemen, respectively.
Among the recent events that revealed Chinese entities providing materials and intelligence for Iran’s strategic defense and armed proxies:
- Two Iranian-flagged cargo ships carrying 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, a missile fuel ingredient, docked at Iran’s primary commercial and military port near Bandar Abbas after leaving China, the CNN news network reported in February 2025. Iran in June ordered thousands of additional tons of missile propellants from China.
- The U.S. State Department in April 2025 said that Chinese company Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. provided satellite images to help Iran-backed Houthi rebels attack U.S. interests in the Red Sea.
- An April explosion at the port near Bandar Abbas killed dozens of people, including Chinese nationals. Though the cause hasn’t been determined, the blast also destroyed missile chemicals imported from China. “Iran’s defense industrial complex does not have a strong track record in ensuring safety standards,” Fabian Hinz, a military analyst at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Wall Street Journal.
- The U.S. in May sanctioned Chinese and Iranian companies involved in missile production for the IRGC, saying their actions risked proliferating weapons of mass destruction.
- Cargo airplanes often used to transport military equipment departed from China in June and disappeared from radar when approaching Iran’s airspace, prompting speculation that Beijing might be covertly aiding Tehran, according to The Economic Times, an India-based newspaper.
- China’s People’s Liberation Army personnel analyzed the U.S. military’s Operation Midnight Hammer against key Iranian nuclear installations in June 2025, Chinese media reported. The bombing mission severely damaged uranium enrichment infrastructure at Fordow and Natanz, and a nuclear-related facility at Isfahan, U.S. officials said.
Beijing and Tehran in March 2025 announced a strategic partnership in which China will invest in nuclear energy, ports, railroads and other Iranian infrastructure, as well as bolster Iran’s oil and gas industries and military technology. Iran, in return, will send more than 90% of its illegal oil exports to China, frequently via a clandestine “dark fleet” of tankers, The Economic Times reported in June 2025.
“The deal deepens cooperation between Tehran and Beijing at a time when China is seeking more influence in the Middle East and when Iran is looking for ways to support an economy that has been battered by U.S. sanctions,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
