Funding of the Iran-China Strategic Partnership via the U.S. Capital Markets
Iran's geopolitical ambitions and support for regional terrorist groups have placed it at the center of much of the instability and violence across the Middle East. In response, PSSI has launched the "Countering Iran's Strategic Interests" project to chart the Iranian regime’s proxies and partnerships and uncover the extent to which Western investors underwrite their operations.
A cornerstone of Iran’s foreign policy is its support for proxies, with a long-standing history of providing financial resources, training, and sophisticated weaponry to groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis. Despite international sanctions aimed at curtailing Iran’s regional operations, Tehran offsets and weathers these through strategic alliances with authoritarian powers, particularly Russia and China. Russia supports Iran through trade, energy exports, military cooperation, and investment, in exchange for drones, ballistic missiles, and other military and geopolitical support. Meanwhile, China, as Iran’s primary trading partner and arms supplier, provides a vital lifeline that enables Tehran to circumvent sanctions and fund its malign activities in the region. These partnerships undermine the efficacy of sanctions, weaken global financial systems, and embolden others to adopt similar tactics -- placing global stability in jeopardy.