Iran contracted to purchase between 300 and 400 man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) from China, which it expects to receive within weeks. Reuters sources claimed that the contract is worth USD $60-70 million and includes Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 infrared-guided surface-to-air missiles capable of engaging helicopters, drones, and low-flying fixed-wing aircraft. The contract was signed by Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, a Hong Kong subsidiary of Beijing-based company Zhong Qing Bao Shang Group serving as an intermediary between Iran and the Chinese supplier. The parties to the transaction agreed for the shipment to initially travel by air from Urumqi, China, and then transit through Pakistan to Iran. China's foreign ministry and the Pakistani military denied the report. Western intelligence sources and an Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran has also considered using overland routes to transport Chinese military supplies and dual-use goods to Iran.
News Briefs
July 28, 2026
-- Reuters
July 23, 2026
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel traveled to Yemen with missile- and drone-related equipment on a Mahan Air flight from Tehran to Sana'a on July 13, according to Yemen's internationally-recognized government and Iranian sources. The aircraft had originally brought a Houthi delegation to Tehran on July 3 for the funeral of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Iranian sources said the return flight contained between 10 and 21 IRGC military advisers, including senior commanders, who intended to train the Houthis on a new missile system and who also brought gold intended to fund Houthi operations. The aircraft was forced to divert to Hodeidah when the Yemeni government carried out an airstrike on the Sana'a airport before the plane could land. The incident prompted the Houthis to declare a naval blockade against Saudia Arabia, whom they blamed for the airport strike.
-- Reuters
July 21, 2026
Israeli intelligence concluded that Iran moved thousands of gas centrifuges to its Pickaxe Mountain (Mount Kolang) underground nuclear site following the June 2025 war. The site contains a fortified tunnel network and was originally commissioned as a replacement for a centrifuge assembly facility at Natanz that was damaged by sabotage in 2020. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not had access to the site and has received no information from Iran about its purpose beyond a 2021 statement that Iran intended to carry out nuclear activities there. Israel believes that centrifuges were transferred there in the fall of 2025. Pickaxe Mountain has not been struck during the 2026 war between Iran and the United States and Israel, but U.S. President Donald Trump stated that it is a possible target for a U.S. attack.
-- Wall Street Journal
July 14, 2026
U.S. national Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi was convicted in federal court of conspiring to violate and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR) by illegally exporting electronic components from the United States to Iran. Sadeghi worked for a Massachusetts-based microelectronics manufacturer and helped Mohammad Abedininajafabadi (Abedini) procure export-controlled U.S. origin components for Abedini’s Iran-based company, San’at Danesh Rahpooyan Aflak Co. (SDRA), which manufactures Sepehr navigation systems used in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)'s military drone program, as well as in cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Sadeghi helped transfer U.S.-origin goods, including accelerometers, gyroscopes, inertial measurement units, and semiconductors, through Abedini's Switzerland-based front company Illumove SA after arranging a contract between Illumove and his employer. A Shahed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) recovered after a 2024 attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan had a navigation system manufactured by SDRA. Abedini remains at large.
-- U.S. Department of Justice Press Release
June 24, 2026
Iranian entities moved more than $3.84 billion since 2019 through CoinEx, a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange founded by Chinese engineer Haipo Yang. Wallets hosted by CoinEx received hacked cryptocurrency obtained by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and transacted directly with accounts later attributed to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). To discover the activity, analytical firm TRM Labs traced stablecoins from wallets attributed to the CBI, including funds linked to $1.5 billion stolen by North Korean hackers. The funds progressed through multiple blockchains and cryptocurrencies to wallets hosted by Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, before being transferred to CoinEx accounts and rendered untraceable through a series of additional steps.CoinEx became Nobitex’s largest foreign counterparty by 2024, after the United States penalized Binance for allowing Iranian customers to use its platform. More than $763 million moved between CoinEx and Nobitex in 2025. Between 2022 and 2025, CoinEx-hosted wallets processed transactions for Alireza Derakhshan, an Iranian individual allegedly involved in an oil sales network sanctioned by the United States in 2025. CoinEx wallets also sent and received funds from wallets attributed to Zedcex, a London-registered cryptocurrency exchange connected to IRGC-linked sanctions evader Babak Zanjani. CoinEx denied facilitating direct transactions on behalf of Iranian or sanctioned entities.
-- Wall Street Journal
June 23, 2026
A U.S. pilot recalled seeing multiple Iranian drones hover together in formation before he was shot down in Iranian airspace in April, according to four sources familiar with his intelligence debriefing. The pilot reported a formation resembling a jellyfish, with large drones above and smaller drones underneath. The pilot was concussed during the crash, but if his recollection is correct it could indicate that Iran has developed a meshed networking capability. Meshed networking allows multiple drones to be controlled at once by one operator. Russia and China are believed to have the capability, and two CNN sources said that there have been reports indicating that Russia and China have assisted Iran in developing its drone technology.
-- CNN
June 19, 2026
French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in an interview with French media that France would not approve the lifting of U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran unless Paris is satisfied by the terms of a final agreement reached between Iran and the United States. He stated that there would not be stability in the Middle East unless U.S.-Iran talks addressed Iran's ballistic missile program and support for proxy militants in addition to the Iranian nuclear program.
-- Reuters
June 13, 2026
Iran has fortified the sites containing its highly enriched uranium (HEU) stockpile by collapsing tunnels and mining entrances, according to sources familiar with U.S. intelligence. The U.S. military contemplated an operation to seize the HEU in mid-May, but concluded that the risk was too high. Iran's fortification efforts subsequently continued and increased the time and risk that would be required to retrieve the uranium, even if the retrieval were to be carried out under the terms of a negotiated settlement or by Iran itself. U.S. President Donald Trump said in early June that removal of the HEU would take at least two weeks to complete. A former head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration voiced concern that Iran could claim some of the uranium is irretrievable, thereby obfuscating compliance with any potential agreement to remove it.
-- CNN
June 8, 2026
The Israeli military said that it struck the Bandar Imam Petrochemical Complex in Mahshahr, Iran, which it claimed was used to produce raw materials for Iran's ballistic missile program. One of the sites damaged in the strike was the Karun petrochemical plant, which produces isocyanates used for making plastic products. Israel previously struck the Mahshahr complex in early April.
-- New York Times
June 5, 2026
Iranian national Reza Dindar, also known as Renda Dindar, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle to two counts of export to an embargoed country and two counts of smuggling goods from the United States in connection with a scheme to procure U.S.-origin parts for military sonar systems and ship them to Iran through China. Between 2010 and 2014, Dindar managed New Port Sourcing Solutions in Xi’an, China, which procured items in the United States for companies in Iran and falsely claimed that the goods were destined for China, according to the plea agreement. In 2011 and 2012, Dindar and his co-conspirators purchased parts for three military sonar systems from a business in the Western District of Washington and falsely claimed the systems would be used by a company in China, when they in fact planned to ship them to Iran. Dindar was indicted in August 2014, arrested in Panama in July 2025 at the request of the United States, and extradited to the United States in April 2026.
-- U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington