Below, Hudson Senior Fellow Can Kasapoğlu offers an assessment of the growing defense ties between China and Iran. Executive Summary
www.hudson.org
As a result, some reports suggest that Iran has already acquired Chinese SAMs—
most likely the HQ-9 and possibly the HQ-16 variants. The HQ-9 is a hybrid that marries the Russian SA-20 (specifically, the S-300 PMU-1 and S-300 PMU-2 variants) with higher-end command and control, radar, and seeker technologies. These higher-end technologies
bear similarities to US and even Israeli assets, which Beijing has likely learned about through espionage.
We will find out soon enough, after Iran surrendered.