Six individuals who are privy to negotiations say Iran is near making a deal with China to buy anti-ship cruise missiles, even as America sends a large naval force off the coast of Iran in anticipation of attacking the Islamic Republic.

The Chinese CM 302 missile deal is almost finalised, but there has not been any delivery date agreed upon, the people said. The length of the supersonic missiles is approximately 290 kilometres, and they are meant to avoid ship defences by flying underwater and at a great velocity. Their use would contribute greatly to the attack capacity of Iran and would be a threat to the U.S. naval power in the area, two weapons analysts opined.

A process of negotiations to purchase the missile weapons systems with China, ongoing for at least two years before, stepped up in a frenzy following the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June, according to six people with knowledge of the negotiations, three of them being government officials briefed by the Iranian government and three of them security officials. Senior military and government officials of Iran also visited China last summer, although one of the security officials cited Massoud Oraei, the deputy Iranian defence minister, as a visitor. The visit of Oraei is not mentioned before.

According to Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli intelligence officer who is a present senior Iran researcher at the Israeli Institute of National Security Studies think tank, “it is a game-changer when Iran has the capability to strike ships in the region with supersonic missiles. These are missiles that are very hard to intercept.”

Reuters was unable to tell the number of missiles that were involved in the possible deal, the amount of money that Iran agreed to pay and whether China would proceed with the deal, considering the escalated tensions in the region.

An official of the Iranian foreign ministry told Reuters that it has “military and security agreements with its allies, and this is an opportune moment to cash in on the agreements.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China sent a comment on the same after the publication, stating that it was not informed about the negotiations with the possible missile sale, which were covered by Reuters. The defence ministry of China failed to respond to a request for comment.

Reuters questioned the White House regarding the talks between China and Iran about the missile system, and it did not answer directly. “U.S. President Donald Trump has already made it clear that we will have to either do a deal or do something very tough, like last time, and that was the situation with Iran.”

The missiles would be the most sophisticated military equipment ever handed to Iran by China and would go against an embargo on weapons imposed by the United Nations in 2006. In 2015, the sanctions were lifted on a nuclear agreement with the U.S. and its allies, and then reinstated last September.

US FORCES GATHERING NEAR IRAN

Potential sale would give prominence to enhancing military relations between China and Iran at the time of escalated regional tension and make it difficult to contain the Iranian missile programme and limit activities of the Iranian nuclear programme by the U.S. It would also create an indication of the increasing readiness of China to establish itself in a region that has been dominated for long by the American military power.

China, Iran and Russia conduct regular joint naval drills, and last year the U.S. Treasury Department imposed a ban on several Chinese firms that provide chemical precursors to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to use in its missile program. China denied such accusations that said it did not have a clue about the cases mentioned in the sanctions and that it has stringent policies on exporting dual-use products.

Chinese President Xi Jinping informed the Iranian leader that “China backs Iran in protecting sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity” when he invited the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to a military parade in Beijing in September.

China followed Russia and Iran in a joint letter on October 18 to express the view that they felt such a decision to reimpose sanctions was flawed.

“On one side, the U.S., on the other, Russia and China,” the government of Iran briefed one of the officials about the missile negotiations, which turned Iran into a battlefield.

The agreement coincides with the U.S. putting a fleet of ships in attacking range of Iran, such as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike force. The USS Gerald R. Ford, with the escorts, is also going to the area. The combined capacity of the two ships is over 5,000 people and 150 aircraft.

Citrinowicz, the Israeli expert on Iran, said that “China does not desire to witness a pro-Western regime in Iran. It would be a danger to their interests.” They wish that this regime would remain.

On February 19, Trump stated that he was allowing Iran 10 days to forge an agreement regarding its nuclear programme or iron the stick. The U.S. is establishing a possible weeks-long, sustained campaign against Iran in the event of the ordering of the attack by Trump, as Reuters reported on February 13.

A DEPLETED ARSENAL

Iranian arsenal would be greatly improved as the CM-302 purchase would have been an addition to an arsenal that was exhausted during the war in the previous year, according to Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) of China sells the CM-302 as the best anti-ship missile in the world, able to sink a carrier or a destroyer. Systems of weapons can be attached to ships, aircraft or even ground vehicles that are on the move. It is also able to shoot down targets on the ground.

CASIC was not responding to a request to comment.

The six people also said that Iran is also discussing purchasing Chinese surface-to-air missile systems, also known as MANPADS, anti-ballistic and anti-satellite weapons.

In the 1980s, China was a significant contributor to the supply of weaponry to Iran, but the massive transfer of weapons decreased towards the end of the 1990s due to pressure from the international community. During the last few years, the representatives of the U.S. have accused the Chinese companies of delivering missile-related equipment to Iran, even though it has not publicly been accused of delivering ready-to-use missile systems.