Multiple reports indicate that China may have indirectly entered the Israel-Iran War on behalf of the Islamic Republic.
Three cargo planes were sent from China to Iran within a three-day period beginning the day after the start of Operation Rising Lion, Israel’s attempt to dismantle Iran’s existential threat to the Jewish State.
One plane departed China on Saturday, a second plane departed from a coastal Chinese city on Sunday, and on Monday, a third cargo plane took off from Shanghai, the British Telegraph reports.
Radar data disappeared as the three aircraft – whose flight plans indicated Luxembourg as their destination — approached Iran each time.
All three planes were Boeing 747 cargo planes used primarily for transporting military equipment and weapons, according to aviation experts quoted by the British news outlet.
It is not possible to determine exactly what cargo the three aircraft brought to Iran. But China has a long history of helping the Islamic Republic with military supplies, often in defiance of international sanctions, and has a major interest in helping the Iranian regime stay in power.
Iran is one of China’s key energy suppliers. Moreover, the two countries are strategic partners.
If Iran loses the war, China could lose a major source of cheap oil. Iran exports around 1.7 million barrels of crude per day – and 90 percent of that production goes to China, according to data from commodities intelligence firm ‘Kpler’.
“The collapse of the current regime would be a significant blow and would generate a lot of instability in the Middle East, ultimately undermining Chinese economic and energy interests,” Andrea Ghiselli, a lecturer at the University of Exeter who specializes in China’s relations with the Middle East and North Africa, told The Telegraph.
China signed a 25-year agreement with Iran in June 2020, agreeing to invest US $400 billion in Tehran’s economy in exchange for steady supplies of heavily discounted crude oil. The key details of the deal were originally reported by British journalist and author Simon Watkins in an article published on September 3, 2019 in Petroleum Economist.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of a summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana, China’s President Xi Jinping said China is “deeply worried” about Israel’s military operation against Iran.
“All parties should work to de-escalate the conflict as soon as possible and prevent the situation from worsening further,” Xi said, in comments quoted by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Earlier in the day, China began urging its citizens to leave Israel and Iran “as soon as possible” and began pushing for a ceasefire.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country has no interest in a ceasefire: Iran continues to declare its commitment to the annihilation of the Jewish State, while racing towards the completion of a nuclear weapon that could easily achieve that goal.
