Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) expressed “deep concern” about China supplying rocket-fuel ingredients to Iran and what they said was insufficient responses from the Trump administration.
“Beijing’s support for Tehran’s rearmament is deeply concerning and provides yet another example of the Chinese Communist Party’s willingness to abet authoritarian aggression from Europe to the Middle East,” the congressmen wrote to Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, and to John Ratcliffe, the CIA director.
“This support not only increases Iran’s threat to its neighbors but also assists Russia and pro-Iranian proxy groups like the Houthis, whose missile programs Iran has previously supported,” Krishnamoorthi and Courtney said.
The congressmen said that Chinese companies have given Iran some 2,000 tons of sodium perchlorate since September 2025, “sufficient to fuel roughly 500 ballistic missiles,” in defiance of United Nations sanctions.
“Beijing’s latest shipments of these critical chemical precursors indicate that U.S. actions to date have failed to deter it from supporting Tehran’s procurement of offensive military capabilities,” they wrote. “Beijing seems increasingly emboldened to assist Tehran’s rearmament efforts with impunity.”
