Special to WorldTribune, September 21, 2026 Real World News
Geostrategy-Direct, September 15, 2026
By Richard Fisher
On Sept. 24th, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit Washington, D.C. for his second summit in 2026 with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Halting China’s economic and military support for Iran and Russia should top their agenda.
A U.S. Department of Defense image from 2023 illustrating Chinese parts supplied for Iranian “Shahed” attack drones. / U.S. Department of Defense
While Trump clearly hopes to advance economic relations with China, as he advances his brand of personal diplomacy to help manage U.S.-China relations, Xi Jinping’s visit also comes at a time when the CCP is brazenly supporting two wars that challenge American security interests, marking a new phase in the CCP’s challenge to displace the U.S. as the dominant global power.
But at this moment, China’s economic and military support are crucial for the survival of the radical Iranian terrorist regime, its ability to suppress the Iranian people, and should it survive, will likely enable the Iranian regime to reconstitute its military power, its support for proxy war against Israel, and the likely resumption of its nuclear weapons program.
China also supports Iran’s war in order to keep the international petroleum market in chaos, which drives up international oil prices, sparking increases in international gasoline prices that affect political support for U.S. and other governments that have sought to end Iran’s nuclear weapons programs.
A most recent reminder of Xi Jinping’s support for Iran’s war and terror campaigns in the Middle East was in the Sept. 11, 2026 issue of the Wall Street Journal.
A Russian Geran-4 attack drone, likely powered by a Chinese made turbine engine, increases its speed and makes interception more difficult. / Wild Hornets (Ukraine)
The Journal reported that before Iran’s July 17 missile attack against Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in northeastern Jordan that killed three Americans, “Teheran acquired high-resolution satellite images of the base in Jordan from Chinese entities, according to U.S. officials familiar with details of the incident.”
While the Chinese sources/satellite companies were not named, the Journal reported that Iran “procured the images both before and after the attack,” so Iran was able to conduct pre and post raid analysis thanks to Chinese satellite images.
China’s provision of satellite intelligence to Iran is well known; on May 8 the U.S. State Department announced sanctions against China’s MizarVision, The Earth Eye and Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. for providing satellite imagery to aid Iran’s war effort.
The U.S. State Department’s May 8 sanctions also designated “entities and individuals enabling efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons, as well as raw materials with applications in Iran’s ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs.”
In 2025, China purchased $31.2 billion worth of oil from Iran, and to surmount severe financial sanctions, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian military was able to sell black market oil to small Chinese refineries, amounting to 47 percent of Iran’s $23 billion 2024-2025 defense budget — according to a May 9, 2025 report on the website Iranopendata.
Decades of China’s purchases of Iranian oil allowed it build up the stockpile of over 6,000 missiles and drones that Iran has fired against 11 Middle Eastern countries since the beginning of hostilities at the end of February 2026, as China’s oil purchases have funded Iran’s proxy war against Israel by enabling Iran to fund Hamas, Hizbullah and the Houthis.
This included an incident in March in which Iran fired “hundreds” of missiles and drones at the U.S. Navy nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth during an April 8 Pentagon press conference.
Full Report . . . . Current Edition . . . . Subscription Information
