Days after the U.S.-Israel led war with Iran kicked off last month, American intelligence agencies detected signs that the war risked widening beyond the immediate battlefield as Russia and China sought to support Iran to blunt U.S.-Israeli military operations.
Analysts at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s arm for military intelligence, assessed that China was weighing whether to provide Tehran with four JY-27A radar systems, according to multiple U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The deliberations came amid separate reports that Russia had shared intelligence with Iran on American military positions across the Middle East.
While Moscow’s transfer of information to Tehran has been previously reported by CBS News, China’s apparent willingness — early in the conflict and potentially over a protracted timeline — to assist Iran points to a broader, if informal, alignment among powers seeking to counterbalance U.S. ambitions in the region.
U.S. officials, who spoke to CBS News on the condition of anonymity to discuss national security issues, said Beijing had considered supplying Iran with JY-27A VHF radar systems. This Chinese radar advertised as a measure to significantly enhance Iran’s ability to detect and track incoming threats, like low-flying drones and cruise missiles, and could help protect its air defense systems against advanced strikes.
However, the U.S. special operations to capture Nicolas Maduro resulted in the destruction of JY-27A radar by the American EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft. The U.S. also destroyed a Chinese YLC-8B radar in Iran during the war using the same EA-18G Growler.
China has recently sent its Y-20 transport aircraft to Tehran multiple times, but it is unclear whether China has transferred those systems to Tehran, but China recently delivered FN-6 and HJ-12E missiles to Iran.
The assessment underscores Washington’s concern that the Iranian war is drawing in not only regional adversaries but also global competitors willing to provide critical support, short of direct military involvement, the officials said.
On Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used a spy satellite it secretly bought from Chinese company Earth Eye Co., to target U.S. bases in the Middle East, citing leaked Iranian military documents.
U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that Tehran has previously used satellite imagery provided by China, including during the ongoing conflict involving Israel and U.S. forces, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said. The officials could not confirm whether the imagery was supplied by Earth Eye Co.
A Pentagon report on China’s military released in December said that as of 2024, commercial satellite companies based in China had participated in business exchanges with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The 2026 Annual Threat Assessment — an unclassified survey of global security risks compiled by the intelligence community — warned that China is far outpacing other nations in its development of space-based capabilities.
“China has eclipsed Russia as the key U.S. competitor in space. Beijing’s rapid deployment of space capabilities positions it to use space to advance its foreign policy goals, challenge U.S. military and technological superiority in space, and project power on a global scale,” the report said.
U.S. intelligence also indicates Beijing has weighed transferring air defense systems to Iran, potentially routed through third countries to obscure direct involvement, the two officials said.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, characterized the reports that China may be providing Iran with new air defense systems as “significant.”
“They try to hide themselves. China says, well, this is their private sector. We all know there is no such thing as a true private sector in China. Every company in China has to have its first loyalty to the Communist Party,” Warner said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, when asked Thursday about the intelligence assessments, said, “President Trump has a very strong and direct relationship with President Xi, and they’ve communicated on that, and China has assured us that that indeed is not going to happen.”
Mr. Trump is expected to visit China next month in a high-stakes summit driven by several overlapping crises and strategic interests. Mr. Trump said he sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping asking him not to give Iran weapons in an interview that aired Wednesday on the Fox Business Network. Mr. Trump did not say when the letters were exchanged.
Last week, Mr. Trump threatened countries with an immediate 50% tariff if they supplied Iran with weapons. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday media reports of Beijing supplying Tehran with weapons were “purely fabricated,” and cautioned that any tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on that basis would be met with countermeasures.
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