State of Mankind

Iran’s Enhanced Combat Power ViaWinnie Han
April 15, 2021 Updated: April 16, 2021
Commentary
CCP’s BeiDou Navigation System Threatens US

Right before the United States and Iran were going
to hold indirect talks on April 6, the Chinese and
Iranian foreign ministers signed a 25-year
Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Agreement
(CSCA) in Tehran on March 27; as part of the
agreement, China will provide Iran access to its
BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) to
enhance Iran’s combat capabilities.
This could be very concerning to the United States,
according to China expert Gu Feng.
The CSCA includes three main aspects, namely, the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will invest $400
billion in Iran for energy and infrastructure
construction; oil and trade transactions between
China and Iran will be settled in the Chinese yuan;
Iran will install the CCP’s BDS for its missiles. Among the three items, the direct settlement in yuan
and the BDS have caused the most concerns.
Settlement in Yuan Bypasses US Sanctions on
Iran
Under U.S. sanctions against Iran, countries are
prohibited from conducting oil transactions with
Iran, and if the U.S. dollar is used in such
transactions, the relevant banks will be subject to U.
S. secondary sanctions. All financial ties with the
United States will be severed, and all business and
assets will be frozen.
In addition, the United States will pressure the
Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial
Telecommunication (SWIFT) to cut its
telecommunication ties with Iran.
However, if the yuan is used to settle oil trade
between the CCP and Iran, the CCP will enable Iran
to get around the restrictions of using U.S. dollars,
thus largely circumventing the U.S. sanctions.
Currently, South Korea is still holding $7 billion of
Iranian oil money under U.S. sanctions over its nuclear program. This has put great pressure on
Iran’s economy, to the point that Iran is even unable
to buy the CCP virus vaccine.
From the CCPs perspective, China is the world’s
largest importer of crude oil. If oil purchases must be
settled in U.S. dollars, the CCP must pay huge fees
in order to convert yuan into U.S. dollars.
According to statistics, China’s daily settlement
volume through SWIFT is between $200 billion and
$300 billion, and the handling fee alone costs the
CCP $7.3 billion to $10.9 billion per year.
Therefore, using yuan for settlement saves the CCP a
lot of fees.
BDS Will Enhance Iran’s Combat Power and
Become a Nightmare for the World
From the military point of view, an advanced
navigation system is a starting point to ensure
missiles hit their target accurately. It is believed that
although Iran lacks an effective navigation system, it
has never dared to use the U.S. or the EU navigation
systems because the signal may be cut off in the
event of a Western-led military conflict.However, installation of the BDS on Iranian missiles
will improve the targeting accuracy to a certain
extent, and pose a threat to the U.S. aircraft carrier
fleet in the Persian Gulf.
BDS is one of the four core providers of global
satellite navigation systems recognized by the
International Committee on Global Navigation
Satellite Systems (ICG), established in 2005 under
the umbrella of the United Nations. The other three
suppliers are the U.S. Global Positioning System
(GPS), the Russian Global Navigation System
(GLONASS), and the European Union’s Global
Satellite Navigation System Galileo.
Gu, a Chinese current affairs commentator, said that
BDS could become a nightmare for the world.
He said that the BDS is developed with the purpose
of getting rid of U.S. GPS military restrictions. The
CCP took 26 years to build it, invested more than
$12 billion, and launched 55 satellites to get BDS
into operation.The CCP is now actively promoting BDS via its
“One Belt, One Road” initiative. Among the 137
signatory countries, more than 100 have the most
frequent use of BDS, most of them in Southeast Asia
and Africa.
More than 30 countries in the Middle East, Africa,
and other regions also use BDS.
Gu said that BDS is a huge and complex aerospace
project, and has 31 more satellites than the U.S. GPS
system. The operation of its space and earth network
involves the coordinated scheduling and monitoring
management of dozens of systems and tens of
thousands of pieces of equipment.
Through BDS, the CCP will be able to put in place a
vast system that can monitor the entire globe.
Gu said, once Iran introduces BDS, the power of its
missile force will multiply.
After Iran has BDS, the nightmare of the United
States will begin, said Gu. With increased navigation
accuracy, Iran can use ballistic missiles to strike U.S. aircraft carriers, and the situation in the Middle East
is likely to change.
Iran has developed and equipped a number of
ballistic missiles. As recently as January this year, it
tested missiles of various ranges. The missiles are
capable of carrying a 650 kg (1,400 pound) warhead
and have a range of approximately 2,000 km (1,200
miles).
With a range of 1,200 miles, the missiles can hit
most countries in the Middle East, as well as the U.
S. military bases in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other
places.
North Korea Received BDS Training From the
CCP
South Korean media Donga.com reported back in
2014 that 19 experts from eight Asia-Pacific
countries, including North Korea, had received
training in China on the technology and applications
of BDS.
The report said North Korea had learned satellite
navigation technology in China and was likely to use it exclusively for military purposes, which was a
further cause for concern in South Korea.
The report said, in the first half of 2014, North
Korean drones used the most basic GPS technology
when they took pictures of Cheong Wa Dae, the
official residence of the President of South Korea,
and Baengnyeong Island in South Korea.
Gu said North Korea is likely to use the satellite
navigation technology it learned from the CCP for
military purposes. This would be a nightmare for the
world if the technology is used in long-range
missiles or drones.
Changes in US Policy Toward Iran
In July 2015, the five permanent members of the
United Nations, including the United States and
China, signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (also known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran
deal).
In May 2018, former U.S. President Trump
withdrew from the deal after announcing that it was
“defective at its core.”Trump said, “If we do nothing, we know exactly
what will happen. In just a short period of time, the
world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the
cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous
weapon.”
The Trump administration then imposed more than
1,600 sanctions on Iran, including an oil embargo
and comprehensive economic sanctions.
On April 6, the new U.S. administration and Iran
held indirect talks through European representatives
in a “shuttle diplomacy” on the U.S. return to the
Iran nuclear deal.
Although the United States, Iran, and Europe all
called the talks “constructive,” the U.S. side said it
did not expect an immediate breakthrough.
The Iranian side, on the other hand, has taken a hardline stance in the talks.
U.S.-based current affairs commentator Li Yanming
said to The Epoch Times that the CCP could have
played a role in Iran’s tough stance.He said the 25-year CSCA between the CCP and
Iran is a major blow to the Biden administration.
“The public alliance between the CCP and Iran is a
sign that the CCP will further contain U.S. military
deployments in the Middle East through Iran,
distracting U.S. control over the Indo-Pacific region
and paving the way for its military expansion in the
Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, and the world,”
Li said.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/irans-...us_3772620.htm