US lawmakers demand answers from Trump administration over Chinese chemical shipments to Iran following CNN reporting

By Gianluca Mezzofiore, Simone McCarthy, CNN

(CNN) — US lawmakers have called for the Trump administration to respond to reporting that Chinese firms are helping Iran rebuild its ballistic missile program in defiance of United Nations sanctions.

The call, from Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Joe Courtney, follows CNN reporting last month detailing what Western intelligence sources said were several shipments of sodium perchlorate, a missile propellant precursor, from China to Iran since the end of September.

These shipments are “indispensable to Tehran’s efforts to rebuild its ballistic missile arsenal following its 12-day war with Israel last summer,” the congressmen wrote in a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Central Intelligence Agency director John Ratcliffe.

“Beijing’s support for Tehran’s rearmament is deeply concerning and provides yet another example of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) willingness to abet authoritarian aggression from Europe to the Middle East,” they said.

According to CNN’s reporting, European intelligence sources say 2,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, the main precursor in the production of the solid propellant that powers Iran’s mid-range conventional missiles, have arrived from China to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas between late September and mid-October. The chemicals were bought by Iran from Chinese suppliers, the sources say.

The deliveries, which analysts say could provide enough chemical for roughly 500 ballistic missiles, appear to show Iran is stepping up the rebuilding of its missile program, which was depleted by the conflict with Israel in June.

They also come as there has been increased concern in Washington about potential emerging coordination between China, Iran, Russia and North Korea. US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met last month for talks that resulted in an economic truce de-escalating their trade war.

“Beijing’s latest shipments of these critical chemical precursors indicate that US actions to date have failed to deter it from supporting Tehran’s procurement of offensive military capabilities,” Krishnamoorthi, who is the ranking member of the House Select Committee on the CCP, and Courtney, ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, wrote in their letter.

Beijing’s 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,” the Congressmen said.

The shipments also “contravene sanctions the United Nations reinstated in September that prohibit international support for Iran’s ballistic missile program and development of nuclear weapons delivery systems,” they added.

Krishnamoorthi and Courtney called for the Trump administration to explain what actions it was taking to “respond to the PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) continuing support to Iran’s ballistic missile program,” including in coordination with US allies and partners.

The Trump administration in April announced sanctions on a dozen entities and individuals based in Iran and China for their role procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Last month, more-than-a-decade-old UN sanctions on Tehran were restored by a so-called snapback mechanism – a provision for Iranian breaches of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal to monitor its nuclear program.

Under the sanctions re-imposed last month, Iran shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN member states must also prevent the provision to Iran of materials that could contribute to the country’s development of a nuclear weapons delivery system, which experts say could include ballistic missiles.

States are also required to prevent the provision to Iran of assistance in the manufacture of arms.

While the shipped substance – sodium perchlorate – is not specifically named in UN documents on materials banned for export to Iran, it is a direct precursor of ammonium perchlorate, a listed and prohibited oxidizer used in ballistic missiles.

China and Iran

Experts say that the sanctions’ failure to explicitly prohibit the chemical may leave China room to argue that it is not in violation of any UN ban. China, along with Russia, opposed the reimposition of the UN sanctions, saying it undermines efforts for a “diplomatic settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue,” and may not see it bound by those rules, as such.

In response to a question from CNN last month about the recent shipments, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that while he “not familiar with the specific situation,” China has “consistently implemented export controls on dual-use items in accordance with its international obligations and domestic laws and regulations.”

“We want to emphasize that China is committed to peacefully resolving the Iranian nuclear issue through political and diplomatic means and opposes sanctions and pressure,” the spokesperson said.

CNN reporting last month followed the journeys of several cargo ships identified by intelligence sources as being involved in the latest deliveries of sodium perchlorate from Chinese ports to Iran, using ship tracking data and the social media of their crew.

Several of the cargo ships and Chinese entities involved are under sanctions from the United States.

Some of those vessels appear to have gone back and forth several times between China and Iran since the end of April. The sources say their crew seem to be employed by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and their regular social media posts provide a trail of their stops on the China to Iran journey.

Similar shipments had previously been reported, and entities in China, long a diplomatic and economic ally of Iran, are also known to use a network of vessels to filter US-sanctioned Iranian oil to the country.

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CNN’s Melissa Bell contributed to this report.