US officials say imagery of Jordan air base was provided ahead of and after attack that killed 3 troops; Beijing rejects allegation and demands Washington provide evidence
Chinese entities supplied Iran with high-quality satellite imagery of a US Air Force base in Jordan both before and after Tehran launched a deadly ballistic missile attack on the facility on July 17, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing US officials familiar with the matter.
The officials, who declined to identify the Chinese entities, said Washington had linked the satellite imagery to the strike, providing what they described as the clearest evidence yet that Chinese support for Tehran during the war had contributed to the deaths of US troops. They stopped short, however, of accusing Beijing of directly participating in the attack, according to the Journal.
Senior US officials reportedly brought up the imagery from the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base with their Chinese counterparts, but Beijing rejected the allegation and demanded that Washington provide evidence, the Journal cited its sources as saying.
A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington told the newspaper that cooperation between Beijing and Tehran was consistent with international law and accused unnamed critics of “maliciously linking and smearing other countries.”
