{"id":97933,"date":"2026-07-29T22:27:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/07\/29\/trumps-four-word-response-after-china-defied-him-with-secret-smuggling-of-weapons-to-iran\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T22:27:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:27:00","slug":"trumps-four-word-response-after-china-defied-him-with-secret-smuggling-of-weapons-to-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/07\/29\/trumps-four-word-response-after-china-defied-him-with-secret-smuggling-of-weapons-to-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s four-word response after China defied him with secret smuggling of weapons to Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"js-article-text\">\n<ul>\n<li class><strong><a class rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/link.news.dailymail.co.uk\/join\/dc-insider-sign-up?utm_source=dailymail.co.uk&#038;utm_medium=organic_editorial&#038;utm_campaign=conversion_newsletter&#038;utm_term=dcinsider_bullets&#038;utm_budgetpot=organic\">Sign up HERE for DC Insider <\/a>&#8211; your free guide to what&#8217;s rocking Washington<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=dailymail.com\">save us as a Preferred Source<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/profile-962\/jon-michael-raasch.html\">JON MICHAEL RAASCH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/follow?screen_name=JMRaasch&#038;tw_p=followbutton\"><span><\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n<p><span> <span>Published:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-07-29T22:53:09+0100\"> 17:53 EDT, 29 July 2026 <\/time> <\/span> | <span> <span>Updated:<\/span> <time datetime=\"2026-07-30T02:27:26+0100\"> 21:27 EDT, 29 July 2026 <\/time> <\/span> <\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/donald_trump\/index.html\" id=\"mol-447e4240-8b91-11f1-bc14-abf504e712ec\">Donald Trump<\/a> was shocked to hear that <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/china\/index.html\" id=\"mol-448dab90-8b91-11f1-bc14-abf504e712ec\">China<\/a> is reportedly supplying weapons to <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/iran\/index.html\" id=\"mol-448dd2a0-8b91-11f1-bc14-abf504e712ec\" class>Iran<\/a>, responding with some consternation.<\/p>\n<p>China and Iran struck a deal for <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/beijing\/index.html\" id=\"mol-448d5d70-8b91-11f1-bc14-abf504e712ec\">Beijing<\/a> to send up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air defense launchers to the Islamic Republic, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>The deal will enable Tehran&#8217;s fighters to more readily defend themselves against US air assets as American forces enjoy air superiority over Iran.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has repeatedly said that he&#8217;s spoken to Chinese President <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/xi-jinping\/index.html\" id=\"mol-44845cc0-8b91-11f1-bc14-abf504e712ec\">Xi Jinping<\/a>, and that the foreign leader &#8216;agreed not to send weapons to Iran.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The president even threatened China over the weekend, saying it would &#8216;be very bad for them&#8217; if they did.<\/p>\n<p>But the President was seemingly caught off guard by the latest Reuters report.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;That would be surprising,&#8217; Trump responded to a question about the report.&#8217;I mean, things like that happen.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He (Xi) told me very strongly he wouldn&#8217;t partake, and he knows I&#8217;d be quite disappointed.&#8217;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>President Donald Trump, shown above with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in May, was shocked to hear about a report indicating that China has approved arms sales to Iran<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Chinese State media shows the launch of the QW-12 missile system intercepting a target during tests. Three sources told Reuters that a deal for China to send Iran 300 to 400 QW-12 and FN-16 shoulder-fired air defense systems has been signed<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8216;Well, that would be surprising,&#8217; Trump responded to a question about the report. &#8216;I mean, things like that happen &#8230; He (Xi) told me very strongly he wouldn&#8217;t partake, and he knows I&#8217;d be quite disappointed&#8217;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But the Chinese Foreign Ministry flatly denied the reporting about the arms sale.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The relevant reports are completely groundless. China has consistently played a role in promoting peace and ending the conflict.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The sources who spoke with Reuters cautioned that though the arms deal had been signed, details of the agreement, like delivery schedules and quantities, may still be changed.<\/p>\n<p>They shared that under the agreement, shipments of the air defense systems will depart from the western Chinese city of Urumqi before traveling to Pakistan and then on to Iran.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Speculations of Pakistan being involved in supply of Air Defence weapons to Iran from China are absolutely concocted and false,&#8217; Pakistan&#8217;s military media, ISPR, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The reported sale underscores Iran&#8217;s diminished capacity to defend itself from US forces and its reliance on US rivals.<\/p>\n<p>Experts have warned that the shoulder-launch systems are more portable and difficult to target, as users can quickly go outside, open fire at their objective and return indoors.<\/p>\n<p>Other Iranian air defense systems are more static and less maneuverable, making them easier targets for US troops.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Trump has said repeatedly that Xi has assured him that China would not supply Iran with arms<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Chinese soldiers particiapte in a combat demonstration in Hong Kong on June 27<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The QW-12 and FN-16 are infrared-guided missile defense systems made to engage low-flying crafts, like helicopters and drones.<\/p>\n<p>The shipment will reportedly contain 300 to 400 of these systems.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in April, Trump remarked that China had sent Iran a &#8216;gift&#8217; that was intercepted by US forces.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We caught a ship yesterday that had some things on it, which wasnt very nice. A gift from China perhaps, I dont know, but I was a little surprised,&#8217; Trump said at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Trump did not expound on what consequences, if any, China would face for the reported arms sale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>                                                                                                                                  <ad-slot position=\"smart_feed\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                <ad-slot position=\"after_article\"><\/ad-slot>                                                                                                                                                                         <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sign up HERE for DC Insider &#8211; your free guide to what&#8217;s rocking Washington See more Daily Mail on Google &#8211; save us as a Preferred Source By JON MICHAEL RAASCH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT Published: 17:53 EDT, 29 July 2026 | Updated: 21:27 EDT, 29 July 2026 Donald Trump was shocked to hear that China [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-donald-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}