Officials said that ships with missile launchers are going to travel from China to Iran

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Two Iranian cargo ships carrying chemicals critical to missile development will leave China for Iran in the next few weeks, according to information from two Western security officials.

The Iranian-flagged ships – Golbon and Jairaan – are carrying more than 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, which is used to produce ammonium perchlorate, a strong propellant for missiles.

Two of the officials said that sodium perchlorate can produce 960 tons of ammonium perchlorate, about 70 percent of what is needed for solid-fuel missiles. That amount of ammonium perchlorate is enough to produce 1,300 tons of propellant, enough to fuel 260 medium-range Iranian missiles such as the Khaybar Shekhan or Hajj Qassem, the officials added.

Ammonium perchlorate is one of the chemicals controlled by the Missile Technology Export Control System and is an international anti-proliferation component.

The chemicals were being transported to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the main arm of Iran’s military, the two officials said.

The two officials said 34 20-foot containers containing the chemical were loaded onto the Golboon, which took off from the Chinese island of Daishan on Tuesday. Jayran is expected to leave China in early February with 22 containers. Both vessels, owned by Iranian entities, are expected to make the three-week voyage to Iran without making any port calls, the officials said.

Officials said the chemicals were loaded at the Golbon in Taikang, north of Shanghai, and were destined for the Iranian port of Brock Abbas in the Persian Gulf.

Based on marine traffic data from vessel tracking, Golbon He spent at least several days off Daishan Island before leaving on Tuesday. Sea traffic showed Jayran early Wednesday off the coast of Ningbo, about 75 km south of Daishan in China’s Zhejiang province.

Officials could not say whether Beijing knew about the shipment. The US and its allies have repeatedly criticized China for supporting governments from Tehran to Moscow.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said it was “not aware” of the situation and that Beijing was committed to “maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and the Gulf region and actively promoting a political and diplomatic settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue.”

The Iranian government declined to comment.

China has made extensive arms sales since 1979, providing “Silkworm” anti-ship missiles during the 1986 Iran-Iraq war, former CIA China analyst Dennis Wilder said.

“Since the early 1990s, China has provided extensive assistance to Iran’s military in its ballistic missile development program, providing expertise, technology, parts and training,” said Wilder, now at Georgetown University.

“China’s motives for helping Iran covertly today include covertly helping Iran produce missiles for Russia’s war (in Ukraine). . . And Beijing’s purchases of Iran’s crude oil, which have been discounted by a significant amount in the past year.

Washington has accused China of violating US sanctions by buying Iranian petroleum, but critics of the Biden administration say it has not done enough to enforce the sanctions.

The US has also pressured Beijing over the past two years to end the flow of dual-use goods to Russia that helped Moscow launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But the shipping rate showed little sign of falling.