(Headline article below) Is this the reason the US is about to attack Iran? And why would China sell these to Iran? Is a major war with China in the works too? China has feverishly been building their navy and setting up bases on contested islands. Or did China just participate in setting up Iran?
https://southfront.press/iran-to-get-supersonic-anti-ship-missiles-from-china/
A chinese YJ-12B costal defense system firing. Photo via the Yonhap News Agency.
Iran is very close to a deal with China to purchase advanced supersonic anti‑ship cruise missiles, Reuters reported on February 24.
According to the news agency, the deal for the CM‑302 missiles is near completion, though no delivery date has been set yet.
Negotiations with China to buy the missiles, which began at least two years ago, accelerated sharply after the 12‑day war between Israel and Iran last June, the agency said, citing six people with knowledge of the talks, including three officials who were briefed by the Iranian government as well as three security officials.
As talks entered their final stages last summer, senior Iranian military and government officials traveled to China, including Massoud Oraei, Iran’s deputy defense minister, according to two of the security officials. Oraei’s visit has not been previously reported.
Reuters didn’t clarify how many missiles were involved in the potential deal, how much Iran had agreed to pay, or whether China would go through with the agreement now given heightened tensions in the region.
“Iran has military and security agreements with its allies, and now is an appropriate time to make use of these agreements,” an Iranian foreign ministry official told the agency.
The CM-302 is the export version of the YJ-12, which was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC)
The missile was developed to disable ships with a displacement of up to 5,000 tons. However, it can be also used in a land attack role. It has a range of 280 kilometers and a warhead weighing at least 250 kg.
The navigation system of the missile relies on the Chinese satellite system BeiDou, with a data-link for mid-course updates. The missile is equipped with an active radar seeker for terminal homing to achieve a 90% probability of hitting its target.
According to CASIC, the missile is supersonic throughout its flight. The missile travels at a mid-course speed of Mach 1.5-2 and accelerates to Mach 3 or higher during the terminal flight phase.
“It’s a complete gamechanger if Iran has supersonic capability to attack ships in the area,” Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli intelligence officer and now senior Iran researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies think tank, told Reuters. “These missiles are very difficult to intercept.”
The missile will exchange Iran’s already-large arsenal of anti-ship missiles, which includes not just cruise missiles, but also ballistic missiles modified to attack naval vessels.
Reuter’s report came amid a large U.S. military buildup in the Middle East and direct threats from President Donald Trump to Iran. Recent weeks saw two rounds of indirect talks between the two countries, but most reports indicate that war is around the corner.
Even if Iran ended up finalizing the deal with China, it is highly unlikely that it will be able to receive CM-302 missiles before or amid a war with the U.S.