China denies military aid to Iran after Israeli officials cite missile recovery
Ambassador Xiao Junzheng called claims of weapons transfers baseless, responding to testimony from former security chiefs at a Tel Aviv conference.
By James Foster ·
Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng dismissed allegations of military support for Iran as baseless on Thursday. He spoke at the SIGNAL Group annual conference held at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The event focused on Israel's policy regarding China and the Indo-Pacific region.
The comments followed testimony from former Israeli security officials who argued that Beijing helped Tehran rebuild its missile and nuclear capabilities. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said he was less optimistic about relations with China after observing its ties with Iran. Amidror served as a senior IDF intelligence officer before his role in the Prime Minister's Office.
Amidror stated that Israeli strikes destroyed part of Iran's ability to manufacture missiles capable of reaching Israel. He claimed Tehran subsequently purchased the capability to reproduce those missiles from China. "The Iranians could not resume their capability to produce missiles without help from China," he said. Amidror acknowledged he did not know if the assistance came from China's civilian or military sector.
Xiao defended Beijing's position by citing international law and China's internal export control regulations. He stated that China does not sell weapons to any party engaged in an armed conflict. He also noted that Beijing strictly regulates exports of dual-use items. Xiao suggested that if Israel possessed evidence of lethal weapons transfers, the Israeli government would notify Chinese authorities.
Recent investigations have raised scrutiny over these ties. A September Reuters report indicated that Iran used oil revenues in a barter-like arrangement to purchase billions of dollars in Chinese goods, including alleged military equipment. The sources said this arrangement had been used at least once in the previous year for multimillion-dollar air-defense contracts. China's Foreign Ministry said at the time it was not familiar with the specific arrangement.
In October, Reuters reported that a network of more than 5,000 Iranian Defense Ministry-linked agencies facilitated imports of at least $2 billion in equipment and explosives since January 2025. The materials included rocket-fuel ingredients, industrial machinery, and heavy-duty vehicles used in missile and drone production. The report named China, Russia, and Germany as origin countries for the goods. Experts noted that some materials had civilian uses, and the investigation did not establish direct authorization from Beijing.
Former Mossad director Efraim Halevy also spoke at the conference regarding historical nuclear assistance. He recounted a 1993 visit by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to Beijing, where Rabin and Mossad director Shabtai Shavit presented intelligence to President Jiang Zemin. Halevy said Zemin denied the support, but he asserted that a building in Isfahan, Iran, still contains equipment for processing high-level uranium. He claimed the building displays a plaque thanking China in Farsi and Chinese. The Jerusalem Post could not independently verify the existence of the plaque.
