A growing number of reports are revealing that China is likely providing material military support to Iran amid the U.S. military effort to force the Islamist regime to capitulate and halt its ambitions for nuclear weapons.

After a United Nations embargo and U.S. sanctions were put in place against countries supplying weapons to Iran over the last decade, The New York Times reported last week that Beijing has continued to supply Iran with “dual-use” technologies that can be used “in both civilian technologies as well as missiles and drones.” The technologies have aided the Islamist regime in amassing a vast arsenal of missiles and drones that it has used to arm its terrorist proxy groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and strike Israel, U.S. military bases and aircraft, and civilian infrastructure in neighboring countries, among other soft targets.

Moreover, a Financial Times report last week uncovered that Xi Jinping’s communist regime had given Tehran access to a reconnaissance satellite that provided targeting information of American military bases in the Middle East. According to the report, the TEE-01B satellite built by the Chinese company Earth Eye Co was delivered to Iran after it reached orbit, and Emposat, an additional company Chinese company, gave the regime control services and satellite data. A third Chinese firm called MizarVision reportedly published “AI-enhanced satellite images of US bases in the Middle East” which U.S. intelligence believed helped Iran’s military identify targets.

In addition, CNN reported on April 11 that Beijing was preparing to deliver weapons shipments to Tehran even after the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran had begun. Sources told CNN that China “is working to route?the shipments?through third countries to?mask their true origin.” The weapons were said to be “shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs” which pose a threat to low-flying aircraft. President Donald Trump quickly responded to the reports, remarking, “If China does that, China will have big problems, okay?”

Trump noted during a press conference earlier this month that an American F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iran was hit by a “handheld?shoulder missile, [a] heat-seeking?missile,” while Tehran stated that it had used a “new” system to bring down the aircraft (though it has not been confirmed if the missile that brought down the F-15 was manufactured by China).

The Washington Times also reported that Beijing was “close to selling the Iranians more advanced CM-302 supersonic anti-ship missiles that are capable of defeating naval defenses before the start of U.S. and Israeli attacks. It is not known if those missiles were supplied.”

Lawmakers like Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who serves as chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, say that Xi Jinping’s efforts to bolster the Iranian regime make sense in light of their larger strategic and energy interests, even as they publicly try to claim that they are neutral in the U.S.-Iran conflict.

“China is clearly the largest purchaser of Iranian oil — they buy about 90% of Iran’s oil,” he pointed out during “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Monday. “They have partnered with Iran, North Korea, [and] Russia and are enablers for these authoritarian regimes to do what they do. And so for them to say that they’re simply sort of a neutral bystander, [a] peace-loving country, we wouldn’t have a lot of these conflicts if it wasn’t for China propping up these regimes.”

Moolenaar further related how the Chinese regime supplies “dual-use” technologies by way of its “[T]hey have something called military civil fusion where there’s really no private sector providing just commercial things. Everything in the private sector is used for dual-use applications for [the] military. And so they would say they’re only supplying non-defense materials, but we know that’s not the case.”

Moolenaar went on to argue that while a potential invasion of Taiwan by the communist regime is possible, the U.S.’s decisive actions against Iran may cause Beijing to be reluctant about using military force.

“[C]learly [an invasion is] a possibility because Xi Jinping has told his military to be ready to ‘reunify with Taiwan’ by force if necessary. … [T]hat’s not a command to take Taiwan, but it certainly is their military preparation,” he observed. “We see them doing all sorts of intimidation tactics throughout the region. But I have to say, they have to be very impressed with President Trump’s leadership and the military capabilities that we’ve seen, both with Venezuela as well as with Iran. And that may very well give them cause to reflect on whether they want to initiate some military confrontation.”