Iran obtained high-resolution satellite imagery of a US air base in Jordan from Chinese entities before and after the July missile attack that killed three American soldiers there, US officials told the Wall Street Journal, in what those officials described as the clearest indication so far that Chinese support for Iran during the war has had lethal consequences for American forces.
The imagery covered Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in northeastern Jordan, struck on July 17 when Iranian ballistic missiles hit a housing area where US troops were sleeping. Three soldiers were killed and four wounded and evacuated. The dead were named as Army First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, Private Isabella Gonzales and Sergeant Angel S. Rampersad, with Feehan dying of wounds sustained in the attack. Officials said Iran also targeted manned and unmanned aircraft at the base. It was one of three missile attacks on the installation within 24 hours and the first American combat deaths since the April ceasefire. Iranian state media released detailed damage photographs from three parts of the base within three days, and a Journal review of lower-resolution commercial imagery identified more than 20 structures hit.
The officials did not name the Chinese firms involved and did not accuse the Chinese government of ordering or authorising the transfer. Washington has been warning Beijing for months that Chinese companies were selling imagery usable against American forces, and in May the Trump administration sanctioned three of them, MizarVision, Earth Eye and Chang Guang, over imagery it said Iran could use for targeting. China has denied the allegations. Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Chang in Washington did not address the specific claim and accused unnamed parties of maliciously linking and smearing other countries.
A White House official told the Journal that no outside assistance had improved Iran's ability to strike American targets, without addressing the imagery findings directly. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asked days after the attack whether China was supplying targeting data, declined to answer directly and said Beijing's actions had not changed the course of the conflict.
Analysts and former officials cited in the report cautioned that the Chinese imagery was probably one input among several, alongside Iran's own satellites, human sources and intelligence and imagery from Russia. US officials are separately examining whether Chinese data is helping Iran track American warships. They said Iran's ability to hit moving vessels appears to be improving, though Central Command reported that recent Iranian attempts against US ships failed. Congressional intelligence committees have been briefed in recent weeks on alleged Russian and Chinese support for Tehran.
The finding arrives ahead of a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled for September 24.
