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Two Iranian cargo ships carrying a chemical ingredient critical to missile propellant will sail from China to Iran in the next few weeks, according to intelligence from security officials in two western countries.
The Iranian-flagged ships – Golbon and Jairan – are expected to carry more than 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, which is used to make ammonium perchlorate, the main ingredient of solid propellant in missiles.
The two officials said sodium perchlorate can produce 960 tons of ammonium perchlorate, which makes up 70 percent of the propellant for solid-fuel missiles. This amount of ammonium perchlorate can produce 1,300 tons of propellant, enough to launch 260 medium-range Iranian missiles such as Kheibar Shekan or Haj Qassem, the officials added.
Ammonium perchlorate is among the chemicals controlled by the Missile Technology Export Control Regime, an international antitrust body.
The chemicals were being shipped to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the top arm of the Iranian military, two officials said.
The two officials said 34 containers of 20 chemicals were loaded onto the Golbon, which left China's Daishan island on Tuesday. Jairan is expected to leave China with 22 containers in early February. Both ships, owned by Iranian companies, were expected to take a three-week voyage. Iran without calling the port, officials said.
Officials said the chemicals were loaded at Golbon in Taicang, a port north of Shanghai, and were bound for Bandar Abbas, Iran's southern port on the Persian Gulf.
Based on data from the Marine Traffic tracking vessel, the Golbon spent at least several days on Daishan Island before leaving on Tuesday. Marine Traffic showed the Jairan about 75km south of Daishan off the coast of Ningbo in China's Zhejiang province early Wednesday.
Officials could not say whether Beijing knew what had been sent. The US and its allies often criticize China for providing administrative support from Tehran to Moscow.
China's ambassador to Washington said it was “unfamiliar” with the situation and Beijing was committed to “maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and the Gulf region and actively promoting a political and diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear issue”.
The Iranian government declined to comment.
Dennis Wilder, the CIA's former top China analyst, said China has continued to sell weapons to Iran since 1979, including supplying “Silkworm” anti-ship missiles in 1986 during the Iran-Iraq war.
“Since the early 1990s, China has assisted the Iranian military in general with its ballistic missile development program and provided expertise, technology, parts and training,” said Wilder, now at Georgetown University.
“China's motivation to covertly help Iran today includes helping Iran covertly produce missiles in Russia's (Ukraine) war effort, underscoring the common cause against perceived US hegemonism.” . . and Beijing's annual purchases of large quantities of discounted Iranian crude.”
Washington has also criticized China for violating US sanctions by buying Iranian petroleum, but critics of the Biden administration say it has not done enough to enforce the sanctions.
The US has also increased pressure on Beijing over the past two years for not doing more to stop the export of dual-use materials to Russia that have aided Moscow in its all-out invasion of Ukraine. But shipment volume showed little sign of falling.