Why the Iran War Is All About China | Zineb Riboua

Mar 6, 2026

Zineb Riboua, a policy analyst at Hudson Institute and founder of the China in MENA Project, unpacks China’s strategic ties with Iran. She traces Chinese-built weapons, surveillance exports, and the 25-year pact. Short takes cover China’s use of Iran to shift U.S. influence, proxy networks like the Houthis, maritime disruption, and how recent operations aim to undercut that China–Iran axis.

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INSIGHT

China As The Middle East's Hidden Power Broker

China is the hidden strategic sponsor reshaping Middle East power dynamics.
Zineb Riboua traces two decades of Chinese investment, surveillance tech exports, and military components that turned Iran into a Chinese strategic asset.

INSIGHT

China Supplied Iran's Missiles And Surveillance

Chinese firms supplied critical missile chemical components and surveillance infrastructure to Iran.
Riboua notes Iran lacked domestic chemical capability for missiles and adopted Chinese surveillance systems perfected in Uyghur camps to crush protests.

INSIGHT

Exporting The Golden Shield Model

China exported its domestic surveillance model to Iran as a profitable, stabilizing export.
Riboua explains Chinese telecom and 5G architecture reshaped Iran's networks enabling precise tracking like identifying hijab compliance during protests.

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“The U.S. went to war in Iran because Iran made itself a Chinese weapon,” argues policy analyst Zineb Riboua, a research fellow at Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East.

Riboua is the founder of the “China in MENA Project,” which tracks communist Chinese expansion and influence across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Is there a bigger dimension to the Iran war that people are missing?

“We have this tendency to just look at the countries involved ... but there’s a big player, and the big player here is China,” she says. “China has been investing immensely in the region in the last two decades, in courting, in coordinating, in cooperating with Gulf countries, with Iran itself, and also with its proxies.”

And why, I ask her, has China been so keen on gaining strategic influence over the Middle East?

It’s because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) understands that “China cannot rise without having the United States weakened in one of the most important regions in the world,” she said.

“Iran has been that tool. China has built Iran’s military arsenal. It has collaborated extensively with Iran’s proxies, especially the Houthis.

“And reversing that calculus is what Operation Epic Fury is doing.”

In our interview, we delve deep into the symbiotic relationship between the two countries—why China needs Iran and why Iran needs China:

Which role does Iran play on China’s geopolitical chessboard?
Why did China turn Iran into one of its strategic allies, and how did the Islamic Republic benefit?
How dependent is the Iranian regime on China’s military support and surveillance infrastructure?
How dependent is China on Iran’s oil?

The goal of America’s military operation, Riboua believes, is to dismantle the whole structure of the Islamic Republic. “The United States is destroying ... every single launcher, every single missile facility. Their whole Navy has been absolutely crushed. ... It’s 2,000 targets so far, and they’re hitting even more.”

We also discuss what the Chinese regime will do if the Islamic Republic disappears.

How will its geopolitical strategy be impacted? What will happen to the CCP’s Belt and Road initiative, in which Iran played a central role? And how will China’s economy and its relationships with its Middle Eastern and North African proxies be affected?

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.