Iran plans to take advantage of China's BeiDou navigation system to close security vulnerabilities
According to analysts, Iran's plans to join China's BeiDou satellite navigation system could expand Beijing's presence in the Middle East with advanced technology becoming a battlefield.
These plans came after Tehran suffered heavy losses in its military and nuclear facilities in the 12-day war with Israel and the United States in June.
In an interview with Iran's local newspaper Ham-Mihan last month, Iran's Deputy Minister of Communications Ehsan Chitsaz confirmed that he deliberately disrupted GPS signals to misdirect drones or missiles in the war with Israel.
Chitsaz said Tehran plans to migrate some of location-based services such as transportation and agriculture to another system.
“The Islamic Republic will consider alternative options such as China's BeiDou system, which has been brought up as one of the main axes of the long-term joint agreement in the ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Beijing,” he said.
Analysts evaluated this development to the South China Morning Post.
Ali Akbar Dareini, a researcher at the Tehran Center for Strategic Studies, said that there was a "real" Iranian strategic decision with long-term effects of Iran's transition to BeiDou and that relying on Western technology stems from the "painful experience".
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Dareini said, “In June, there were reports that Israel had interrupted the GPS signal during Israel's 12-day war of aggression against Iran. This painful experience may have pushed Iran faster to look for an alternative solution to GPS," he said.
Theo Nencini, a lecturer at Sciences Po Grenoble in France, said he was trying to figure out how to strengthen Iran's defenses.
“Iranian policymakers and strategists are currently trying to understand the flaws in their defense systems and how the American and Israeli intelligence services can infiltrate their systems by using these flaws,” Nencini said.
He stated that Iran's move is a way to harmonize with China in a "complex period".
“This statement serves the interests of China in terms of image and reinforces the desire to show itself and its high-tech products as a reliable alternative to the United States, especially in such sensitive sectors,” he said.
With a network of 60 satellites, BeiDou has been fully operational globally since 2020 and is making progress along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative. It was announced that it serves almost 140 countries. China has never confirmed that BeiDou is used for military purposes for any country.
It is reported that the bilateral cooperation regarding BeiDou dates back to 2020. That year, Iran's Ambassador to China, Mohammad Keshavarzzadeh, told state broadcaster China Radio International that China would provide this system to Iran.
Enrico Fardella, a professor at the L'Orientale University of Naples and an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS Europe, said this move would further expand China's presence in the Middle East, even making it a “military ecosystem.”
“BeiDou is not just [a navigation system]. When combined with China's unmanned aerial vehicles, missiles and satellite support, it becomes part of a larger military ecosystem. This means that China can help Iran without the need to deploy soldiers or equipment," he said.
Professor Fan Hongda of the Shanghai University of International Studies said that if Iran relies more on BeiDou, especially in the defense and sensitive sectors, it will “clearly strengthen China's presence in the Middle East” and “show recognition of China's technological and military progress.”
Observers added that China-Iran BeiDou cooperation could attract more countries in the region for accession.
Since 2019, China has held four rounds of the Sino-Arab States BeiDou Satellite System Cooperation Forum to promote its implementation in the region.
The American allies of the Gulf region, especially the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, are the most active countries in cooperation with China. The two countries are buying an increasing amount of weapons from China and welcome China's advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G.
“China will become an option for countries that value diplomatic diversity. Although there is some competition between China and the US, it is not impossible for them to coexist. This also applies to the Middle East," he said.
Fardella from Naples L'Orientale University stated that the Middle East will gradually become a technology battlefield and that the US-China technology competition in the region has increased.
“Today, the Middle East seems to be becoming a new technology battlefield, not with bases or bombs, but with satellites, networks, etc.,” he said.
In recent years, the security cooperation of China and Iran has grown under the pressure of the United States. China and Iran have held regular maritime exercises with Russia in recent years.
However, China has long argued that it does not sell weapons to Iran or other warring countries and insists that it strictly controls the export of dual-use products.
However, last week the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on several companies from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan on the grounds that they supported Iran's military unmanned aerial vehicle projects.