How China Helps Iran Kill Americans

On March 1, 2026, Iranian Shahed drones struck a U.S. command center at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait. Six U.S. Army reservists from Iowa were killed. Dozens more were injured, suffering traumatic brain injuries and shrapnel wounds.

No unclassified forensic examination of the remnants of the drones in this attack has been completed to our knowledge. More generally, however, the construction of Iranian Shahed drones has been documented extensively, and it has been well established that while these weapons are ultimately fully assembled in Iran, many if not most of their key components come from China.

The engine used in the Shahed drone is a copy of one originally designed in Germany. All of the engines are now made in China. Several different Chinese companies are involved, including Xiamen Victory Technology, Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine Co., Harbin Bin-Au, and Jinhua Hairun.

Xiamen Victory Technology is so proud of its contribution to the construction of Shahed drones that it even includes imagery of the drone on its website for marketing purposes. While the United States was bombing Iran, Xiamen was continuing to send marketing emails to Iran and focusing on expanding sales.

The Chinese don’t just supply the engines for the Shahed, however. They send Iran:

• Microchips/semiconductors and circuit boards.

• Navigation systems, GPS modules, gyroscopes, and sensors.

• Fiber-optic cables (for improved guidance/resilience against jamming).

• Voltage converters and control systems.

• Power and Batteries:

  • Lithium-ion batteries and related power systems.

• Structural/Materials:

  • Carbon fiber, honeycomb composites, fiberglass, and aerospace-grade materials for airframes and wings.

• Other:

  • Antennas (e.g., CRPA types for EW resistance).

  • Various dual-use parts like lenses, metal alloys, and binders.

These parts don’t trickle in via some kind of ad hoc smuggling arrangement. They are shipped in bulk directly to Iranian factories. Hundreds of containers at a time are delivered. These used to come by sea directly to Iran. Now, because of the American blockade, the containers are offloaded in Pakistan and then trucked into Iran via supply routes opened with Pakistani cooperation.

The list of Chinese companies involved in this business is almost endless. It includes:

Beijing Micropilot UAV Control System Ltd.
b) Limbach Aircraft Engine Co
c) Redlepus (Redlepus TSK Vector Industrial Shenzhen Co Ltd.)
d) Juhang Aviation Technology Co., Ltd (Shenzhen)
e) Jinhua Hairun Power Technology Company Ltd.
f) Shandong Xinyilu International Trade Co., Ltd.
g) Fujian Jingke Technology Co., Ltd.
h) Mile Hao Xiang Technology Co., Ltd.
i) Suzhou Ecod Precision Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
j) Shenzhen Jinduobang Technology Co., Ltd.
2) Russian Customers and Intermediaries
a) Drake LLC
b) Morgan LLC
c) Sollers Alabuga LLC
d) Alabuga Machinery LLC
e) Alabuga-Volokno LLC

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None of this happens without the knowledge and assistance of the Chinese government. We know the names of the Chinese companies involved. Xi knows them as well. This is not some low-profile smuggling operation. This is support at the national level for Iran, even as its forces are engaged in combat with ours.

The Chinese don’t just help the Iranians build Shahed drones; however, they also make sure that the drones hit their targets. China has granted Iran access to its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS/BDS-3), which is an alternative to the American GPS. This provides high-accuracy positioning and navigation with encrypted signals. The Iranians aren’t hoping to hit something when they fire a drone. They now have pinpoint accuracy.

“When you can reliably hit a specific runway, hangar, or command centre you shift from symbolic strikes to operationally decisive ones. That’s a different level of risk for anyone in range.”

The National News

The Iranians also now use Chinese-made guidance chips and navigation modules in Shahed drones. These include gyroscopes, accelerometers, CRPA (Controlled Reception Pattern Antennae) anti-jamming tech, and other dual-use electronics. Among other things, this allows the drones to change course mid-flight and acquire targets more accurately.

The Chinese have also made available to the Iranian high-resolution satellite imagery from companies like MizarVision, Earth Eye, and Chang Guang. The Iranians aren’t guessing where U.S. forces are. They have superb quality overhead of every installation they are targeting. When the Shahed drones hit our command center in Kuwait in March, the Iranians and the Chinese knew precisely what they were targeting and who they intended to kill.

During the recent summit in Beijing, Chinese leader Xi Jinping purportedly promised President Trump that he would not send weapons to Iran. Maybe there is a problem with the translation. Xi has been sending Iran weapons for a very long time. More to the point, he is continuing to do so. He is helping Iranians kill Americans even as he talks of coexistence and cooperation.