As the Islamic Republic weathers U.S. and Israeli missile strikes on its infrastructure and the killing of key political figures, China remains on the sidelines, offering words and technical expertise rather than arms to its closest partner in the Middle East.
To be sure, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has strongly condemned the U.S.-Israeli intervention in Iran, calling it “unacceptable” for Washington to launch attacks amid ongoing negotiations with Tehran, “still less to blatantly attack and kill a leader of a sovereign country and instigate government change.” That is where Beijing’s assistance has ended, however. While reports have circulated that Chinese air defense systems and anti-ship cruise missiles are being sent to Iran, there is as yet no evidence coming from the battlefield that such arms have in fact been delivered and deployed.
But while China may not be rushing to bolster Iran’s missile defense system, there is one area of the Iranian security apparatus that has seen concrete Chinese assistance: its extensive censorship regime.
Today marks the twelfth day of Iran’s latest internet blackout with national connectivity at 1% of ordinary levels, according to web monitor NetBlocks. SpaceX’s Starlink — the lifeline that has kept Iranian connected to the outside world during previous internet blackouts — has come under unprecedented attack.
Since 2022, the satellite-based internet system has served as a crucial counterweight to Tehran’s tightening grip on cyberspace. An estimated 50,000 Starlink units exist inside Iran, operating outside of domestic internet infrastructure to allow information to continue to flow out of the country. However, the recent January protests across Iran saw the most effective crackdown on Starlink to date — a strategy the regime is deploying again in the current internet blackout.
Tehran is deploying military-grade satellite jamming systems to prevent communication via Starlink, cutting satellite internet performance by as much as 80% in parts of the country. It is also engaging in GPS “spoofing”– broadcasting false location data to confuse and disable satellite terminals – marking the first documented case of a state deploying this technique against commercial satellite internet. This escalation represents a leap forward in Iran’s censorship capabilities.
That improvement isn’t home-grown. The jamming systems Iran appears to be using are sophisticated and expensive, mirroring those of China – a global censorship superpower that has spent decades refining digital control at home and exporting it abroad.
On the surface, the China-Iran relationship appears limited and transactional. Iran exports oil and gas to China, allowing Beijing to strengthen its energy security. In exchange, China pledged back in 2021 to invest $400 billion in Iran over 25 years in exchange for continued access to Iranian oil supply.
But Beijing’s commitment has limits. When Israel launched attacks against Iran during the twelve-day war of July 2025, China offered little more than rhetorical support. The same holds true today. Any expectation that Beijing will come to the rescue of a regime thousands of miles away is a grave misreading of Beijing’s foreign policy. China has security interests in the Middle East but will avoid any commitment to the defense of other nations. Instead, as the U.S. bears the costs of long-term engagement in the Middle East, the PRC stands to benefit from a loss of American focus on the Indo-Pacific.
As American policymakers advance in their Iran campaign, China’s latent role can’t be ignored. On the surface, Beijing is refusing to join the conflict. Behind the scenes, however, its censorship tools are shaping its information component – much to the detriment of the Iranian people, and of the United States.