China has been accused of supplying Iran with high-quality satellite imagery that helped it carry out a deadly drone and missile attack on US troops at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing sources familiar with the matter. The allegation is described as the strongest evidence yet of Beijing's support for Tehran during its conflict with the US, and comes at a sensitive moment given that President Xi Jinping is due to visit Washington later this month, his first such trip in a decade.

The 17 July strike, which hit while service members were sleeping, killed three soldiers and injured four others, and formed part of three attacks on the base within 24 hours. US officials believe the imagery was likely one of several tools Iran used, alongside its own satellite capability and Russian-supplied imagery, to locate and assess strike effectiveness. Washington reportedly pressed Chinese counterparts on the technology but received no acknowledgement of any corporate link, while a Chinese Embassy spokesperson denied any breach of international law and dismissed the claims as "smearing". The US had already sanctioned China-based firms, including Meentropy Technology, Earth Eye, MizarVision and Chang Guang, over similar allegations, though it is not known which, if any, were linked to the July attack.