Iran War Reveals US Power Limits to China and Russia — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Iran preserved its political structure and most of its military response capability despite heavy US-Israeli strikes, transforming an expected short campaign into a longer, costlier war that is now being studied in Beijing and Moscow.
- China's seaborne crude imports fell to roughly 7.14 million barrels per day in August 2026 — nearly 40% below the prewar average — as Iran-war disruptions cut Chinese refineries off from a key source of crude.
- China has kept buying Iranian oil through independent refineries under threat of secondary US sanctions, and Iranian access to certain dual-use drone and missile technologies has flowed through companies and commercial networks linked to China, helping preserve Iran's technological base.
- Russia has worked with Iran since 2023 under a secret program to develop propulsion technology for hypersonic cruise missiles, cooperation that continued into 2026, alongside satellite cooperation and military equipment transfers.
- On April 7, China and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on the Strait of Hormuz, with Beijing explicitly arguing the council shouldn't legitimize unauthorized military operations.
Why it matters: Iran's ability to absorb US-Israeli strikes while remaining functional gives China a working model for resisting American power without triggering direct war — especially relevant to Beijing's long-term Taiwan contingency. Russia's parallel hypersonic-missile cooperation with Iran since 2023 shows that economic, technological and diplomatic tools can constrain Washington more cheaply than a formal alliance.
Ask SkimNews
