President Trump said Friday he does not believe Russia or China are supplying weapons to Iran.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said that while in Beijing in May, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he would “under no circumstances” supply weapons to Iran, including weapons from Chinese companies.
“Given our relationship, I take him at his word and, in addition, I also do him a very great service,” the president wrote.
Mr. Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin also said he would not sell weapons to Iran.
“He understands that I sell weapons not to Ukraine, but to NATO countries. They pay the full price, but I have no idea how these weapons are distributed,” the president said.
“So the two big countries that people often talk about in the context of Iran are not participating, in my opinion,” Mr. Trump wrote, adding: “If they did, it would be very bad for them — and certainly not in their best interests.”
CBS News reported that Russia and China supported Iran during the war that the United States and Israel launched jointly on February 28.
In March, multiple sources told CBS News that Russia was providing Iran with intelligence about U.S. military positions in the Middle East.
Analysts at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the military intelligence arm of the Defense Department, concluded soon after the war began that China was considering providing Iran with advanced radar systems, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News at the time. Such technology will help Tehran better detect and track incoming threats such as low-flying drones and cruise missiles.
U.S. intelligence assessments also showed that China previously provided Tehran with satellite imagery that the theocratic Islamic regime used during the war, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said in April.
In April, the Financial Times reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used a spy satellite it acquired from China’s Earth Eye Co. to attack U.S. military bases in the Middle East.