Chinese companies have been plotting to carry out clandestine arms sales to Iran, transporting weapons through other countries to hide the origin of the materials, according to a New York Times report citing US officials on Wednesday.
According to the report, the US has gathered intelligence indicating that Chinese companies have been in communication with Iranian officials regarding arms sales.
It is unclear if any weapons have been shipped yet or how many sales were approved by Chinese officials, and according to the NYT, US officials briefed on the matter disagree on those specifics.
The anonymous US officials shared that at least one of the countries China was planning to use to hide the origin of the weapons shipments was in Africa.
According to the report, Iran has not used any Chinese weapons against Israel or US forces since both countries launched Operation Roaring Lion and Operation Epic Fury against the regime in Tehran.
US officials allegedly do not believe that the Chinese government has formally approved of moves to supply finished weapons to Iran, but they noted that it is unlikely that the government did not know about communications between Iran and Chinese companies.
China has significantly aided Iran over the course of the war, providing intelligence on US forces in the region and supplying Tehran with dual-use materials used in the production of drones and missiles.
On April 10, CNN reported on US intelligence that indicated that Beijing was preparing to supply Iran with man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADs), a type of anti-aircraft missile system.
Two sources told CNN at the time that there were already signs that China was attempting to conceal the origin of the arms by routing the shipments through other countries.
US officials, Trump urge Beijing to halt weapons sales to Iran
US officials, according to the NYT, have been increasingly pushing for more pressure to be put on Beijing to reduce its support for Iran. They reportedly believe that Chinese efforts to supply Tehran with arms are unacceptable and want the Chinese government to block arms sales.
The NYT report came as US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for the first American presidential visit to China in almost a decade to meet with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) head Xi Jinping.
Trump has previously attempted to dissuade Xi from continuing the arms transfers.
After China’s plan to ship MANPADS was revealed, Trump told Fox Business Network that he had personally written a letter to Xi asking him to block such sales.
“I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that, and he wrote me a letter saying that, essentially, he’s not doing that,” Trump said of the incident.
Shoshana Baker and Reuters contributed to this report.