Trump downplays China's alleged 'help' to Iran in strike on Jordan base | Gravitas
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump downplays China's alleged 'help' to Iran in strike on Jordan base | Gravitas")
Three US military personnel were killed in the Iranian strike on the airbase in Jordan. Photograph: (AFP)
US officials are increasingly concerned that China and Russia could be providing Iran with targeted intelligence to track and stack American naval assets in West Asia. China denied helping Iran with satellite imagery and asserted that there was no evidence to back this allegation.
To what extent has China helped Iran during the ongoing West Asia war?
While a new report linked high-quality satellite imagery provided by Chinese entities to a deadly Iranian ballistic missile and drone strike on Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti air base, US President Donald Trump downplayed its impact.
This comes even as three US military personnel were killed in this strike conducted on July 17.
This marked the first American military casualties since the April ceasefire.
According to the Wall Street journal, US officials are increasingly concerned that China and Russia could be providing Iran with targeted intelligence to track and stack American naval assets in West Asia.
However, China denied helping Iran with satellite imagery and asserted that there was no evidence to back this allegation.
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Trump's remarks came just a few hours after Xi took an indirect swipe at America's hegemonic designs.
Addressing the second session of the BRICS Summit, Xi Jinping emphasised that the logic of 'might makes right' does not hold and should have been discarded long ago.
He also called upon the Global South to jointly defend rule of law in international affairs and back peaceful settlement of disputes.
Now, speculation about China's role is not new.
According to reports, Beijing helped push Tehran to the negotiating table for a ceasefire in April.
Being Iran's largest trading partner, which purchases roughly 90% of its crude oil, China has high stakes in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump's reluctance to directly pick a fight with China may also be linked to the fact that Xi is set to meet him at the White House on September 24.
Since his visit to Beijing in May, the US President has been keen on China buying American soybean, oil as well as Boeing jets.
For America, China's supply of critical minerals is also vital as they are essential components in production of weapons which have been depleted by the war.
Meanwhile, reports suggested that China warned of cancelling Xi's meeting with Trump if US approved new arms sales to Taiwan.
China reportedly reaffirmed its position that the Taiwan issue was a 'red line' in bilateral relations between Beijing and Washington.
Amid the tense situation in West Asia, all eyes will be on whether China can break the impasse...