America Hits Iran; China Takes the Blow
“Well, it means that a lot of countries in the developing world that might have been flirting with China don’t want to flirt with them anymore.”
The U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran are sending shockwaves far beyond the Middle East — straight to Beijing.
Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer told Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Wednesday night that China’s leadership is “in a panic,” with the ripple effects hitting the country like “tidal waves.”
Between the Trump administration’s January capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the war in Iran, “China has lost two of its most important allies in the developing world” in just two months.
Schweizer estimated that roughly 20% to 25% of China’s oil imports came from Venezuela and Iran combined, much of it purchased at steep discounts — about $15 per barrel below market prices.
Pointing to China’s long-term effort to move away from a U.S. dollar–based global economy, he noted that Beijing was paying for the oil in its own currency.
Regarding the current disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Schweizer said, “we now have a chokehold on the Strait.” He said:
Assume that China wanted to move on Taiwan, right? There’s a military response. But now we have a massive energy response which is we simply don’t allow any tankers to ship oil from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. We can do it. It might have been a little bit dicey if we had not taken out the Iranians. That’s roughly half of their oil — 40 to 50% of their oil — is suddenly not available to them.
The war has also put a spotlight on China’s military technology. According to Schweizer:
China provided their most advanced air defense capabilities to Iran. We completely destroyed them. … So China now has the problem that their military technology is not recognized as being up to par with the United States. That’s going to have huge implications with a whole host of other countries.
The war is also hitting China’s AI sector. Schweizer explained that two major Chinese telecommunications firms — ZTE, a state-owned company, and Huawei, heavily subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party — are critical to China’s AI capabilities. Both companies have large contracts with the Venezuelan and Iranian governments, and “they are not going to be paid.” The contracts are worth “tens of billions of dollars.”
Watters asked, assuming the war goes well for the U.S., “What kind of position does that put the U.S. [in] with Venezuela and now Iran more in our orbit?”
Schweizer replied:
Well, it means that a lot of countries in the developing world that might have been flirting with China don’t want to flirt with them anymore. Because they realize that [first], China can sign all the “strategic partnerships” they want, but they’re not going to do anything about it if their allies get in trouble. I mean all China has done is send some scolding messages. They haven’t done a single thing to stand up for their allies.
Second of all, they understand that this administration [U.S.] is the partner they want to be in business with — not Beijing.
🚨 MUST WATCH: @PeterSchweizer says that China is “PANICKING” over the Iran War 🚨
“China has LOST two of its most important allies in the developing world”
“Half of their OIL is suddenly NOT AVAILABLE to them”
“China provided their MOST ADVANCED Air Defense capabilities to… pic.twitter.com/oNZLf9FyUo
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) March 5, 2026
China analyst Chris Chappell echoed Schweizer’s remarks. He noted on X, “Every country that has been quietly drifting toward Beijing’s orbit, betting that China is the future, is watching Beijing issue press conferences while its strategic partner gets regime-changed.
“And when the moment of truth arrived, all Russia and China could do is say, ‘sorry for your loss.'”
This isn't just about Iran. Every country watching this is doing the math. Every country that has been quietly drifting toward Beijing's orbit, betting that China is the future, is watching Beijing issue press conferences while its strategic partner gets regime-changed.
The…
— China Uncensored (@ChinaUncensored) March 4, 2026
Michael Lucci, the founder of research firm State Armor, joined podcast host Steven Gruber to discuss the war’s impact on China. In addition to the points outlined above, Lucci said “China had a $400 billion, 25-year deal with Iran that began just a few years ago.”
Lucci suggested the strikes on Iran may allow Trump to preempt future confrontations with China, including deterring a potential invasion of Taiwan.
So, you see the United States in the Panama Canal, Greenland, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran — really removing from the table some of Communist China’s pieces in this geopolitical conflict between our two countries. And we’re doing it at a time when China’s not ready and able to respond.
So, I think that that’s basically what Trump’s doing. He’s basically fast-forwarding through conflicts that might have occurred in a more costly manor for the United States.
If China invades Taiwan, we’re going to have problems in all these other arenas. He’s trying to take those problems off the map now.
By losing Iran, China takes a multi-layered strategic hit:
➡️ Loss of cheap oil
➡️ Failure of defense systems
➡️ Loss of a CCP-backed terrorist regime pillar causing turmoil in MECommunist China's alliances are not invincible.
I joined @stevegrubershow to discuss. 👇 pic.twitter.com/R3RcHCALAz
— Michael Lucci (@Michael7ucci) March 4, 2026
The conflict with Iran may ultimately reshape more than the Middle East.
China has grown dependent on Iran’s (and Venezuela’s) cheap oil. Now, they will be paying more for that oil, and, to some extent, Trump has gained a degree of leverage over China’s oil supply.
Additionally, by undermining Beijing’s partners and exposing the limits of their influence, it has forced countries around the world to reassess who truly holds the upper hand in the emerging global rivalry.
For years, the assumption was that China’s rise was inevitable. That assumption now looks far less certain.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
China is the worse thing that has happened to the world since the Soviet Union. The fact that partner with these despicable countries and enable their destabilizing antics is despicable. Not enough bad things can happen to China as far as I’m concerned. I hope their entire country collapses and the CCP members are all hung from the nearest lamppost especially Xi the fake Pooh.
I also wish we in the West would ferret out every politician and industrialist that has been seduced by Chinese money and honey traps, and give them good and hard what they so richly deserve for selling out.
I avoid buying anything made in China.
Yeah, they’re certainly going to have a huge energy cost to increase if they can even get the energy they did. Certainly they won’t be getting it well below Market as they had been and most of Russia’s pipelines are pointed the wrong direction.
“China provided their most advanced air defense capabilities to Iran. We completely destroyed them. … So China now has the problem that their military technology is not recognized as being up to par with the United States.”
And rightly so. Have you SEEN the so-called “instruction manuals” they ship with all their crap? Way worse than Ikea!
“And when the moment of truth arrived, all Russia and China could do is say, ‘sorry for your loss.’”
And activate some of their sleeper cells that were welcomed aboard the continent by Joe Biden.
While I like China’s sphere of influence being degraded and shrinking, it’s to early to celebrate, in my personal opinion. I am very worried that China has sold/deployed to Iran their hypersonic cruise missiles and that Iran is simply waiting to humiliate the US and sink one or both of our aircraft carriers in the theater of battle. Or maybe they don’t have them because China has withheld them. Hopefully the Mossad or the CIA know definitively.
I’m sure scoffing is unbecoming, but what infrastructure do you think Iran has to do that?
Also, I’m not sure China’s tech is as advanced as they claim it is. They are big on propaganda, just like their failed 3rd world sh-hole Iran.
I think this is something that would have already been used, unless the moolahs are so devilishly cunning that they waited for their entire leadership caste to be killed and all their state facitilies used to enforce their rule suffer suddenly unexpected dismantling??
Pretty sure that if they had them, they would have already used them.
https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2026/03/06/chinese-missiles-failed-iran-n2425742
Well, seems they had them, they used them, and they failed 🤔
It’s also hitting the EU and Britain in ways they didn’t expect
What is making me laugh is all the intellectual lightweights getting all hurty fweelings because Trump said Herr Starma aint no Churchill by saying Trump aint no Eisenhower.
What those titans of intellectuality dont realise is that Eisenhower supposedly detested the UK! So when they say, Trump aint no Eisenhower…they are damned fortunate he aint! 🤣🤣
China, brought to you by 2 Republican Presidents. Nixon opened China, Bush let them in the WTO.
I find it hard to see China doing anything in the near future considering the US removing 40% of their cheap oil and 2 of their most strategic partners in the third world (Venezuela and Iran), kicking them out of Panama removing that threat, having a stranglehold on over 50% of their oil imports via the Straits of Hormuz, 2 of their largest telecom/AI companies now in danger of bankruptcy due to hundreds of millions in lost contract revenue (ZTE and Huwei) all while purging their military ranks of leadership.
I will also point out Trump has not only deprived them of massive source of revenue by stopping the green nonsense with all the solar panels but also ending the EV mandate and the money from batteries and strategic rare earth minerals it takes to make them combined with the fast track of opening new mines.
No, while US politicians on both sides contributed to China’s rise, Bill Clinton was a, if not the, primary driver. Bill Clinton’s administration negotiated the key 1999 bilateral WTO accession deal with China and pushed Congress to grant China permanent normal trade relations in 2000; Clinton then signed that PNTR law in October 2000. George W. Bush took office afterward and oversaw the period when China’s WTO membership actually began (China formally joined in December 2001). The core U.S. political push and deal-making were done under Clinton. And let’s not forget Clinton administration waivers and looser controls effectively enabled the transfer of missile‑related know‑how to China. And you seem to have also forgotten Clinton’s China linked campaign finance scandals. You also need a reminder on NAFTA (Clinton as well). China became a major supplier of manufactured goods to all three NAFTA countries and eventually surpassed the NAFTA bloc’s combined share in world manufacturing exports, capturing a large slice of global production that North America partly ceded. In fact China bought Bill Clinton cheap given the benefits.
But I don’t disagree that we finally have a President that has effectively challenged China’s ambitions. A rather brilliant geopolitical strategy that is lost on the media.
Yep. Now if we could rein in the globalist/corporatist class that always puts their bonus and their stock price above the USA we’d be much better off as a Nation. Return manufacturing to the USA along with good paying/good benefits jobs needed to sustain a vibrant middle-class.
Killing school children sends China reeling.
Bless your heart sweetie 😂😂
I am thinking your name is more of an activity than a moniker..
I see plenty of asses on this site these days.
With the glaring exception of Moonmeth, only when you look in the mirror, Cigarette.
“I see plenty of asses on this site these days.”
I think, due to where your head is firmly placed, it is your own ass you are viewing.
Awww, did someone’s favorite dictator get sent to spend time in Hell?
Poor liddle fascist.
JR, is that you?
You are well trained in the art of Performative Ignorance. Stuck on stupid.
Saludos, Marco Rubio, el arquitecto del halcón MAGA.
Rubio will be the next President.
America is just correcting a mistake it made. America is the one who opened the West to China, for nothing in return. We are now showing China the error in that calculus. We are showing them they are really nothing without American transigence.
China will double down on paid spies and espionage. I suspect it will escalate to outright sabotage.
It won’t cost them much to escalate the leftist violence that we refuse to already deal with. They can buy useful idiots and judges for a dime a dozen. This is our Achilles, if we don’t address it, it will do untold MORE damage than it is doing now.
China can pay the homeless invaders in Europe to ramp up the holy war too. That will cost pennies.
China has a million of their former citizens nationalized as US citizens now, They also have 500k students in the US. All of these likely have relatives under the CCP’s thumb. Think about that for the moment and the potential for both sabotage and espionage. The later is a given. The former will be triggered if the US and China get into a war over Taiwan.
China is losing face on the global stage. And who is the face of commie China? Xi the Pooh. He has to be getting nervous.