While Xi Jinping was personally assuring Donald Trump that China would not arm Iran under any circumstances — a pledge Trump posted to Truth Social around July 24 — a Hong Kong intermediary called Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment was finalizing a contract to deliver between 300 and 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to Tehran, routed by air from Urumqi in western China to Pakistan and then overland into Iran, according to a Reuters investigation published July 29. The deal, valued at $60 million to $70 million, covers QW-12 and FN-16 man-portable air-defense systems — infrared-guided, shoulder-launched weapons specifically designed to force aircraft to higher altitudes or force them out of restricted airspace entirely. The first shipment was expected within weeks.
That delivery route — Urumqi to Pakistan to Iran, exploiting the land corridor the US naval blockade cannot touch — is now at the center of a new US-Israeli strategic debate: whether to attempt a comprehensive land blockade of all seven of Iran's sovereign land neighbors to close the gap the sea campaign has exposed.
