As the US presses its largest military build-up in the Middle East in decades and threatens to attack the Islamic Republic, Iran is allegedly getting close to an agreement with China to buy anti-ship cruise missiles. The 12-day battle between Israel and Iran in June has hastened the negotiations, which have been ongoing for the past two years.
In the 1980s, China was Iran's main source of weaponry, but by the next decade, that had decreased as a result of international pressure.
According to Reuters, the contract for the Chinese-made CM-302 missiles is almost finalized, but no delivery date has been set.According to the journal, in addition to the CM-302, the Islamic Republic is negotiating the purchase of Chinese anti-ballistic, anti-satellite, and surface-to-air missile systems, or MANPADS.
Concerning the Missiles of CM-302
With a range of roughly 290 kilometers, the supersonic missiles are made to fly quickly and low to avoid shipborne defenses. "It's a complete gamechanger if Iran has the supersonic capability to attack ships in the area," two weapons experts told Reuters, adding that their deployment would threaten US naval forces in the region and greatly increase Iran's striking capabilities. Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli intelligence officer and current senior Iran specialist at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies think tank, stated that intercepting these missiles is extremely challenging.The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a number of Chinese companies last year for providing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with chemical precursors for use in its ballistic missile program. China, however, denied the accusations, stating that it strictly enforces export restrictions on dual-use goods and that it was not aware of the examples mentioned in the sanctions.
On February 19, Trump threatened to take military action against Iran unless it reached a nuclear agreement within ten days.

The missiles would be among the most sophisticated military equipment that China has ever sent to Iran, defying a 2006 United Nations arms embargo. The sanctions were reinstated in September after being eased in 2015 as part of a nuclear agreement with the United States and its allies.
The CM-302 is marketed by China as the finest anti-ship missile in the world, capable of sinking a destroyer or aircraft carrier. The weapons system can be installed on mobile ground vehicles, ships, or airplanes. It is also capable of eliminating targets on land.
Furthermore, the acquisition of CM-302 would be a major upgrade to an Iranian arsenal that was exhausted by the conflict last year, according to Pieter Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.The Significance of China's Participation
The sale would make US efforts to stop Iran's missile and nuclear programs much more difficult and highlights the expanding military relations between China and Iran.
Additionally, the action puts China in a position that the US military has long held.
Additionally, Citrinowicz told Reuters that China opposes an Iranian government that supports the West. "Their interests would be threatened by that. "They hope this regime will continue," he continued.
Alessandro Arduino, an associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute and affiliate lecturer at the Lau China Institute at King's College London, told Newsweek that "the talk of Chinese transfer of advanced anti-ship cruise missiles to Iran, particularly systems such as the YJ-series, is, at this stage, more politically useful than strategically plausible."