I Think Biden's Dreaming About China & Iran Sanctions

By Steve Hynd

Vice President Joe Biden thinks China will back the US bid to impose more UN sanctions on Iran. Maybe he shouldn't hold his breath - cyanotic blue isn't his color.

From UPI:

China inaugurated a missile plan in Iran last month, even as the United States and its allies were pressing Beijing to support a new round of tough economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, Jane's Defense Weekly reports.

...Robert Hewson, editor of Jane's Air-Launched Weapons, reported that the factory for assembling and producing Iran's Nasr-1 -- Victory 1 -- anti-ship missile was opened March 7.

The Nasr is identical to China's C-704 anti-ship missile, Hewson says. Iran's burgeoning defense industry, much of it controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, has been producing Chinese-designed anti-ship missiles such as the C-801 since the early 1990s.

The C-704, developed by China Aerospace Group, targets ships of 1,000-4,000 tons displacement and is the equivalent of the U.S. AGM-119 anti-ship missile. With a range of 106 miles and a 240-pound warhead, the C-704 has a kill probability of 95.7 percent.

Wikipedia differs on both the range and warhead size, saying both are far less than UPI claims, but the C-704/Nasr-1 isn't mainly aimed at US combatant vessels in any case. It isn't designed to take on even American frigates, more the corvettes and missile boats that make up the hearts of several of the neighbour's naval forces - especially Israel's.

Still, with factories like this and China importing 12% of its oil from Iran, I think Biden's barking up the wrong tree entirely on China. As Jane's Hewson told UPI: "With such a solid relationship established between the two countries it is not difficult to see why China has been reluctant to commit to the Western push for sanctions against Iran."

Hewson also notes:

While these Chinese-origin systems have provided Iran with invaluable missile technology, this has had little or no impact on the development of its ballistic missile capabilities.

"Iran's strategic weapons can only (ultimately) involve it in a losing battle with the United States,' Hewson concluded, "but its tactical weapons have already altered the regional balance of power in a much more practical way."

That's damn good short-form analysis.