China, Russia Feed Iran Intel for U.S. Base Strikes — SkimNews
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- Iran's July 17 missile strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan killed 3 American soldiers and wounded 4, using high-resolution satellite imagery from Chinese entities that also captured post-strike images to assess damage.
- Russia fed Iran satellite intelligence that aided the March 27 strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia (wounding 12 Americans), with 14 Russian spy satellites passing overhead two days before the attack.
- Russian engineers are helping Iran develop supersonic cruise missiles designed to evade U.S. and Israeli air defenses, while upgraded Iranian drones refined on Ukraine battlefields are flowing back into Iran's arsenal with Russian combat tactics.
- Russia's drone program evolved from Iranian Shahed drones into a cycle incorporating Chinese components, with new Russian military units feeding battlefield modifications back into production—yielding jet-powered Geran drones that are faster, harder to intercept, and carry larger payloads.
- North Korean engineers trained at Russia's Yelabuga drone factory, Chinese military personnel received drone-warfare training from Russian forces, and Pyongyang struck a deal with Moscow to expand Shahed-type drone production.
- The Trump administration has challenged international institutions, threatened allies' sovereignty (Canada, Denmark), and embraced unpredictability—failing to loosen axis ties while "creating friction in many of its partnerships instead of deepening them."
- Axis members have provided intelligence, technology, political backing, and limited military assistance to Iran without joining its war, with the sole exception of North Korean soldiers deployed on Russia's behalf—a restraint the article calls the defining feature of these partnerships.
Why it matters: Three U.S. soldiers killed at Muwaffaq Salti and 12 wounded at Prince Sultan illustrate the operational cost of adversaries pooling satellite imagery and weapons without formal escalation. The U.S. entered the conflict with a far stronger alliance network than the axis, but the article argues Washington is squandering it—straining partners—while Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran prove you can wage war effectively through proxies.
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