This time, the United States has struck hard! The U.S. directly attacked China's trade corridor connecting to Iran. According to AFP on July 9, the U.S. has continued launching aerial strikes against Iran, targeting not only Iran's air defense systems, coastal surveillance facilities, and storage sites for missiles and drones, but also Iran's domestic infrastructure. This time, the U.S. even targeted China’s trade route to Iran.

French media reported that U.S. forces launched cruise missiles at two railway bridges in northeastern Iran, hitting the Ak Tagh Khan Railway Bridge in Golestan Province in northern Iran. Clearly, such strikes will inevitably affect us. In fact, the Ak Tagh Khan Railway Bridge is a core node of the China-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran corridor and a critical segment of the International North-South Transport Corridor. After the U.S. blockaded Iran’s Persian Gulf ports, freight volume along this land route surged threefold.

This route serves as both a lifeline for Chinese industrial goods and equipment destined for the Middle East, and a crucial overland export artery for Iran’s oil, gas, and minerals. Russia has long relied on this line to deliver supplies to Iran. Clearly, with the U.S. now bombing this railway bridge, freight trains traveling via the China–Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan–Iran corridor—such as those used by China-Europe trains—are bound to face delays. If damage is severe, China-Europe freight trains may have no choice but to reroute through much longer alternative routes.

From the U.S. perspective, this precision strike on this transportation hub aims to: first, disrupt Iran’s domestic logistics and foreign trade cycles, imposing greater economic costs on Iran and weakening its war capacity; second, serve as a deterrent to China and Russia. Perhaps the U.S. hopes to pressure China and Russia into pushing Iran to make larger concessions at the negotiating table. Clearly, the U.S. has come prepared.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870247951517706/

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