[Jpost] Sources estimated that if delivered, the materials could produce around 800 missiles.
Iran has ordered thousands of tons of ballistic missile ingredients from China as part of an effort to rebuild its military capabilities while navigating ongoing nuclear talks with the United States, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the transactions.
The shipments, which are expected to reach Iran in the coming months, include ammonium perchlorate, a key component in the solid propellant used for ballistic missiles. Sources indicated that these materials could potentially fuel hundreds of missiles.
Some of the ammonium perchlorate is expected to be sent to militias aligned with Iran, including the Houthis in Yemen, one of the sources revealed. This move aligns with Iran’s broader strategy to strengthen its regional influence and rebuild its missile arsenal while continuing to negotiate with the Trump administration over the future of its nuclear program.
Iran has been expanding its stockpiles of uranium enriched to just below weapons-grade levels, despite calls from the US to curb its nuclear activities. At the same time, Iran has made it clear that it has no intention of negotiating limits on its missile program, a point that has remained a major sticking point in international discussions.
According to sources, the order for the missile ingredients was placed in recent months by an Iranian entity, Pishgaman Tejarat Rafi Novin Co.. The material was sourced from Hong Kong-based Lion Commodities Holdings Ltd., a company that did not respond to requests for comment. The Iranian mission to the United Nations also declined to comment on the matter.
In a statement, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson denied knowledge of the deal, asserting that China has “always exercised strict control over dual-use items in accordance with China’s export control laws and regulations and its international obligations.”
PART OF REBUILDING IRAN’S 'AXIS OF RESISTANCE'
The shipment of ammonium perchlorate is part of Iran’s broader efforts to rebuild its so-called "Axis of Resistance" network, which includes a number of terror proxies across the region.
These groups have faced significant setbacks over recent years, as well as the ongoing war. These setbacks include Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon and the assassination of key leaders such as Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, former Hezbollah secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and multiple Hamas leaders.
While US and Israeli strikes have damaged the Houthis' capabilities in Yemen, they continue to periodically launch missiles at Israel.
Beyond supporting regional militias, Iran has also reportedly transferred ballistic missiles to Shia militia groups in Iraq, which have previously targeted both US and Israeli forces in the region.
EARLIER SHIPMENTS OF MISSILE INGREDIENTS
Earlier this year, Iranian ships docked in China to load over 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, a precursor for ammonium perchlorate. The material was delivered to Iranian ports in mid-February and late March, according to shipping trackers. This quantity of sodium perchlorate is said to be enough to fuel around 260 short-range missiles.
The new order for ammonium perchlorate, which was placed months before President Trump’s proposed nuclear talks with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in early March, could supply Iran with enough material to produce approximately 800 missiles, one official estimated.
In response to Iran’s missile activities, the US Treasury Department sanctioned six individuals and six entities from both Iran and China on April 29 for their involvement in procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients.
Two weeks later, the Treasury expanded these sanctions to include additional Chinese and Hong Kong entities. The US Department of the Treasury also added sodium perchlorate to the list of materials it believes are being used in Iran’s military, nuclear, or ballistic missile programs.
Iran’s reliance on foreign material for missile production is due, in part, to domestic production bottlenecks. Fabian Hinz, a military analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, noted that Iran’s defense industry struggles to meet its needs without the continued importation of missile propellant materials.
The storage and handling of these materials, however, come with significant risks. A deadly explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in April, which killed dozens, was reportedly caused by the mishandling of explosive materials by a unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Some of the sodium perchlorate imported earlier this year was lost in that explosion, an official confirmed.
“These substances are a major fire and explosive hazard,” said Hinz. “Iran’s defense industrial complex does not have a strong track record in ensuring safety standards.”
Not just perchlorates, and not just Iran. It was ammonium nitrate sent with brotherly Moslem affection from Iran to Hezbollah that destroyed the Port of Beirut and a good chunk of the nearby city.
The Times of Israel adds:
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
as the country works to repair missile production plants that were damaged in October, when Israel responded to Iran’s second-ever direct attack some six months after an earlier missile-and-dronezap. Israel’s October strike destroyed about a dozen so-called planetary mixers, which serve to blend ballistic missile ingredients, the Journal said.
A report earlier this week said Iran is also working to revive its air defense system after Israel’s successive attacks on it.
An earlier Chinese shipment of missile fuel material has been linked to a blast in a southern Iranian port that state media said killed at least 18 people and maimed hundreds. That shipment, which Iran has not acknowledged, contained enough ammonium perchlorate precursor to produce 260 short-range missiles, the Journal said, attributing the blast to mishandling by a unit from the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for Iran’s enrichment capabilities and nuclear facilities to be fully dismantled. US intelligence has assessed that Israel will attack the nuclear facilities this year.
However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
Israel has assured the White House that it won’t launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities unless Trump signals that the ongoing negotiations with Tehran have failed, Axios reported Thursday, citing two Israeli officials familiar with the matter. One official said it could take several months before that happened, and Iran would try to prevent the talks from collapsing.
During a visit last week by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Mosssd
 ...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...
Director David Barnea and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Israeli officials reassured the White House that Israel would not surprise the US by unilaterally striking Iran, the report said. An Israeli official quoted by the news site said, "We calmed the Americans and told them there is no logic in launching an attack if a good diplomatic solution can be found. This is why we are going to give it a chance and wait with any military action until it is clear that negotiations have been exhausted and [White House envoy to the Middle East] Steve Witkoff has given up."
Though the IDF is constantly training for a strike on Iran, separate preparations for strikes on the Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth . Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
s have been misread by the US and other countries as a sign of an imminent Israeli attack on Iran, according to a senior Israeli official cited by Axios.
The report added that Iranian and US negotiators are not expected to hold talks this weekend, despite reporting earlier this week that a sixth round could take place in the Middle East.
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...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...