Chinese companies have been discussing arms sales with Iran, plotting to send the weapons through other countries to mask the origins of the military aid, according to U.S. officials.<\/p>\n
The United States has gathered intelligence that Chinese companies and Iranian officials have discussed the arms transfers. It is not clear how many, if any, arms have been shipped or to what degree Chinese officials have approved the sales.<\/p>\n
The new disclosure is likely to intensify pressure on President Trump to raise the issue while he is in Beijing this week. But whether Mr. Trump will remains a question. While he has pressured leaders of smaller countries during their visits to the White House, Mr. Trump seems intent on resetting the relationship with President Xi Jinping during his meetings in China.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that he planned to have a \u201clong talk\u201d with Mr. Xi about the conflict in the Middle East and added that the Chinese leader had been \u201crelatively good\u201d on Iran.<\/p>\n
Officials briefed on the intelligence have reached different conclusions on whether the arms have already been sent to the third countries. But no Chinese weapons appear to have been used on the battlefield against U.S. or Israeli forces since they began their war against Iran in late February.<\/p>\n
The New York Times reported last month that U.S. intelligence agencies had obtained information showing that China may have transferred<\/a> shoulder-fired missiles, known as MANPADS, to Iran. Such weapons are capable of shooting down low-flying aircraft. Intelligence also showed that China was considering<\/a> other shipments of the weaponry.<\/p>\n U.S. officials have been trying subtly, and not so subtly, to pressure China to reduce its support to Iran in the conflict.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday<\/a>, and officials in his administration hope to avoid complicating his trip. But American officials believe that efforts by China to provide military equipment to Iran are unacceptable and want the Chinese government to block any arms transfers.<\/p>\n The U.S. officials interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of the information and the awkward timing with Mr. Trump\u2019s travel to China.<\/p>\n The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran has provided few details of their cooperation with China, but the Iranian foreign minister said in March<\/a> that Iran had received \u201cmilitary cooperation\u201d from China and Russia but provided no details.<\/p>\n The officials said they do not believe that the Chinese government has formally approved the efforts to support Iran. But the talks between Chinese companies and Iran are unlikely to have occurred without the knowledge of the government, they said.<\/p>\n American officials said that at least one of the third countries was in Africa. It is not clear whether any shipment had reached that country.<\/p>\n After the initial reporting on the MANPADS shipments, Mr. Trump said he had asked Mr. Xi not to allow any arms transfers to Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cI wrote him a letter asking him \u200bnot to do that, and he wrote me a letter saying \u2060that, essentially, he\u2019s not doing that,\u201d Mr. Trump told Fox Business Network in an interview.<\/p>\n Since the beginning of the war, China has given Iran intelligence and access to a spy satellite that has tracked the positions of U.S. forces in the region. China has also supplied dual-use components that Iran needs to produce drones, missiles and other weaponry.<\/p>\n