Trump Suggests Beijing’s Help for Iran Is Limited

The standoff over the Strait of Hormuz tests Beijing’s balancing act, analysts say.

U.S. forces patrol the Arabian Sea near the container ship Touska, after firing on the Iranian-flagged vessel, which the United States said tried to violate the naval blockade of Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz, on April 20, 2026. U.S. Navy via Getty Images

U.S. President Donald Trump has downplayed concerns about Beijing’s support for Iran, suggesting the communist regime’s backing might be limited.

“I think maybe helping, but I don’t think much,” Trump told Fox News on April 26 when asked about China’s aid to Iran. “I think China could have been much worse than they’ve been, so I don’t consider them having been very bad.”

As Tehran’s top oil customer and largest trading partner, Beijing has attracted international attention for its possible behind-the-scenes involvement in the Middle East conflicts.

Suspicions have been growing in recent weeks that Iran might be counting on the Chinese regime to help rebuild its defense sectors, especially in light of Trump’s remarks last week about the U.S. capturing China’s “gift” to Iran.

In an interview aired on April 21, Trump said the United States had used the ceasefire window to replenish its munitions stocks and that Iran might have also “done a little bit of restocking,” before hinting that Beijing might have been involved in Iran’s replenishing efforts.

“We caught a ship yesterday that had some things on it, which wasn’t very nice—a gift from China, perhaps. I don’t know,” Trump told CNBC. “I thought I had an understanding with President Xi. But that’s all right. That’s the way war goes, right?”

Beijing has denied any links to the Iranian-flagged cargo ship, which Iran’s state media identified as departing from China. The U.S. Navy seized the container ship in the Gulf of Oman on April 19, as it tried to evade the U.S. blockade.

“As far as I know, the seized vessel is a foreign container ship,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular briefing earlier on April 21. “China rejects any false association and speculation.”

Guo was responding to a reporter’s question regarding a comment from former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who linked the Iranian ship to “chemical shipments for missiles.” Haley, who now works at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, called the ship another reminder that Beijing helps “prop up Iran’s regime—a reality that can’t be ignored,” according to an April 20 post on X.

When asked about Trump’s comments at the next day’s briefing, Guo said he had already made Beijing’s position clear. He didn’t say what the ship was carrying, stating only that China has been “a role model” in fulfilling its international obligations.

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Decades of Weapons Transfer

The arms trade between Beijing and Tehran dates back decades to Iran’s war with Iraq. By 1983, Beijing had already emerged as Iran’s top weapons supplier, second only to North Korea, selling at least $444 million worth of munitions, tanks, radar, and other support equipment, according to the CIA’s assessment.

Over the past decade, such direct transfer largely dwindled under international scrutiny. Instead, Beijing ships products and technologies with both civilian and military applications, analysts say, similar to how it aids Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

“Much of Iran’s military development over the past few decades relied on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),” Cheng Chin-mo, an associate professor at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, told The Epoch Times. “The CCP has long provided Iran with dual-use items that have effectively sustained Iran’s missile production.”

An Iranian short-range missile is launched during military exercises for Iran's Revolutionary Guards at an undisclosed location in Iran's Kavir Desert, in an image obtained on July 3, 2012. Arash Khamoushi/Isna news agency/AFP via Getty Images

Since the latest U.S. strikes on Iran that started in late February, Iranian officials have reached out to Beijing multiple times, seeking components for drones, unmanned vessels, and smart naval mines that Iran could assemble at home, according to an insider from China’s defense industry who previously spoke to The Epoch Times.

Aside from hardware, there are also speculations that Iran may have used China’s BeiDou—equivalent to the U.S.-produced Global Positioning System—to improve the accuracy of its strikes against U.S. and Israeli assets.

China granted Iran “full military access” to the BeiDou satellite navigation system in 2021, according to a March report by the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was created by Congress in 2000. But it remains unclear to what extent Iran’s military relies on the Chinese signals for drones and missile attacks based on open-source evidence, the report added.

Beijing’s ‘Ambivalent’ Position

In addition to security assistance, Beijing is Iran’s largest trading partner and provides diplomatic support to the isolated Middle East nation.

During a 2016 state visit to Tehran, CCP leader Xi Jinping upgraded the relationship with the Islamic Republic to a comprehensive strategic partnership, setting up a plan to expand bilateral cooperation across trade, military, and security. This 25-year pact, signed in 2021, also brought Tehran into the CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative—a multibillion-dollar program designed to bolster Beijing’s geopolitical sway by building infrastructure worldwide.

Then-Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, sign a 25-year cooperation agreement in Tehran on March 27, 2021. AFP via Getty Images

Despite the close diplomatic and economic ties, China has no formal defense commitments to Iran, some analysts have noted. Since the Communist Party took power in 1949, China has only signed a mutual defense treaty with North Korea, its small communist neighbor.

Compared with Pyongyang and Moscow, Tehran holds less importance for China, partly due to geographical distance, according to Bonny Lin, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

She told a March webinar that she expected China would back Iran rhetorically and politically, but not with much direct military support.

“We would continue to see China supporting Iran in the same way that China has been supporting Russia economically, continue to purchase oil from Iran, providing dual-use supplies when necessary, but no real significant military aid or significant support in terms of Iran’s war efforts,” Lin said.

Cheng, of Tamkang University, described Beijing’s position in the Middle East conflicts as “ambivalent.”

“From the perspective of strategic interests, keeping Iran capable of causing chaos in the Middle East is in the CCP’s best interest,” Cheng said. “But it also fears a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which would deal a fatal blow to its already faltering economy.”

Leverage for Summit

Trump said earlier this month that Xi had assured him that China wouldn’t give Tehran weapons. It came after he explicitly warned of an additional 50 percent U.S. tariff if the CCP arms Tehran. The Treasury Department also sent letters to two Chinese banks, threatening secondary sanctions for any support to Iran.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week imposed sanctions on China’s largest refinery and 40 shipping firms and vessels that were found to serve as Iran’s oil export lifeline.

Analysts say Trump’s revelation of Beijing’s potential aid to Tehran is likely part of the president’s strategy to strengthen his position before sitting down with Xi next month.

“Trump may already have evidence that could be used to exert leverage during negotiations at their upcoming summit,” said Hsieh Pei-shiue, a geopolitics expert with the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taiwanese military-funded think tank.

Trump is set to visit China and meet with Xi from May 14 to 15. The trip, initially planned for late March, was postponed due to the Iran war.

Oil tanker SC Hong Kong off the port of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on July 2, 2012. Atta Kenare/AFP/GettyImages

The ongoing standoff over the Strait of Hormuz is testing Beijing’s balancing act, according to Hsieh.

“Beijing is walking on a dangerous tightrope: using Iran to keep the United States in check while avoiding triggering a full-scale American retaliation, through economic and trade sanctions,” Hsieh told The Epoch Times.

“The U.S. interception of a cargo ship could be the final straw that breaks this delicate balance.”

Luo Ya contributed to this report.