On July 8, 2025, local time, Iran's semi-official news agency also announced, "Iran has received Chinese air defense missile systems." According to the statements of Iranian media themselves, some sources said that after Iran had a 12-day conflict with Israel, it had obtained Chinese air defense missiles. "China delivered air defense missiles to Iran after the de facto ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel on June 24." "Another Arab official, who did not want to reveal his name because of discussing sensitive intelligence, said that the U.S.'s Arab allies knew that Iran was supporting and strengthening its air defense capabilities, and the White House was also aware of Iran's progress." "These officials did not disclose how many surface-to-air missiles Iran had obtained from China since the war ended. However, an Arab official said that Iran was paying for these missiles with oil." According to the statement of Iran, "China is the largest importer of Iran's oil. The U.S. Energy Information Administration pointed out in a report in May that nearly 90% of Iran's crude oil and condensate exports went to China." "For years, China has imported record numbers of Iranian oil despite U.S. sanctions." However, Iranian media also said that the news of Iran obtaining Chinese air defense missiles was not first reported by itself, but was taken from a British media report. From the current information, this time of extensive publicity, the so-called Iran obtaining Chinese-made air defense missile systems, seems more like an information warfare, aiming to create public opinion for Iran to warn Israel and the U.S. military not to attempt a second war, as Iran has Chinese support. Even if Iran now purchases Chinese HQ-9, HQ-16, and HQ-22 air defense missiles, it is impossible to directly deliver them to Iran the next day, unless they are drawn from the Chinese air defense missiles currently in use.
If Iran had obtained the Chinese HQ-9 air defense missile system, the most important thing would be the transportation method. Now, when Iran buys things, the only way to transport them is the Y-20. There is no information confirming that China has suddenly dispatched dozens of Y-20 transport aircraft to Iran to transport several battalions of HQ-9 and HQ-16 air defense missiles. Previously, there was no wind about this large arms sale, and now it starts to blow. A regional-level heavy air defense system requires at least one year of training before it can be used, which seems more like Iran trying to scare Israel and boost its own confidence.
The possibility of delivering the HQ-9 air defense missile system to Iran now is extremely low. Perhaps in a year, Iran will realize too late. If it had purchased Chinese J-10CE, HQ-9, electronic warfare, radar, data link systems several years ago, it would not be in such a situation now. China's main military weapons cooperation partners in the Middle East are mainly the Gulf countries, from the Dongfeng-3, Dongfeng-21 ballistic missiles, to laser weapons, armed drones, SR-5 long-range rocket launchers, self-propelled howitzers, etc. Therefore, China is not going to provide any weapons to Iran, and Iran previously also did not want to purchase fighter jets, warships, submarines, air defense missiles, and other weapons from China, and Iran also doesn't have money to buy Chinese weapons.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837151109847115/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.