President Donald Trump said late Monday that he does not believe China or Russia is helping Iran in its war with the United States, in a post on Truth Social that both governments have “too much to lose” by doing so.
Trump wrote that he had seen his critics and opponents argue the opposite. If either country is assisting Tehran, he said, it is at a very low level, and Washington would learn about it quickly. He did not name any specific allegation he was answering or present evidence for his assessment.
The statement matches how he has talked about the two capitals for months. In July he said he trusted Beijing and Moscow to stay out of the conflict, and he warned that involvement would turn out badly for them. He has also described Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin as neutral in the war.
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The fighting began on February 28, when the United States and Israel attacked Iran. Tehran answered with strikes on Israel and on Gulf states that host American bases. US-Israeli strikes on Iran, together with Israeli attacks on Lebanon, have killed thousands of people and displaced millions since then, according to reporting compiled by ATN.
Both governments Trump named keep close ties with Iran. Russia has said the war could lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, ATN has gathered from public statements by Russian officials. Beijing has condemned American attacks on Tehran as a brazen violation of Iran’s sovereignty.
The president’s comment follows a set of reports that point the other way. Reporting in July said Iran was expected to receive, within weeks, a first shipment from a contract for up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers. A separate account said Tehran had found ways around sanctions on its oil sales with Chinese help. Neither claim has been confirmed by the Chinese government, and Beijing has not publicly addressed the oil allegation in the material ATN reviewed.
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The question predates the autumn. According to one report, the Treasury Department sanctioned a network of middlemen in early May that was arming Iran with Chinese weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles, and Trump met Xi in Beijing on May 14, days later. ATN could not confirm those details against Treasury records. Washington has pressed the point directly. When Xi made a three-day state visit to Washington in September, Trump warned him against giving Iran any support, and US ambassador to China David Perdue said afterward that Trump called direct or indirect assistance “totally unacceptable.” Perdue said Beijing gave assurances on Thursday of that week that China would not provide such help.
Iran heard something different from Beijing. A senior Iranian official told reporters that Chinese officials assured Tehran that its economic, political and military ties would not be limited under pressure from Trump. Xi has not publicly commented on whether China is supporting Iran. Xinhua reported that he urged the United States and Iran to return to negotiations.
A further report concerns Russia. According to that account, Tehran signed a deal with Moscow worth roughly half a billion euros for Verba shoulder-fired missiles. Moscow has not confirmed the deal, and ATN could not independently verify its terms.
In September, Trump dismissed a report that Iran had obtained satellite images of a base in Jordan from Chinese entities before an attack on the site in July that killed three American troops. He did not offer a detailed rebuttal then, and he has not offered one now.
The statement arrives while the war grinds on without a settlement. Iran has described Washington’s reply to its Hormuz proposal as inadequate, and Houthi missile attacks on Saudi targets, including Riyadh’s airport, have continued, according to Saudi and Iranian statements gathered by ATN.
Trump’s critics and opponents are the audience he named for the post. The statement does not cite any US intelligence finding, and none on Chinese or Russian assistance to Iran has been made public in the material ATN reviewed.
Trump returned to the White House on Monday after traveling to Ohio, and the Truth Social post followed late that evening. He said Washington would learn of any such help quickly, a timeline he did not define.
