Hegseth Acknowledges China and Russia Could be Supporting Iran as U.S. Threatens Intensified Strikes Against "New Regime"

WASHINGTON – Hours after the United States struck a major ammunition depot in Isfahan with a high volume of 2,000-pound bunker-buster munitions — triggering secondary explosions that sent fireballs into the sky above Iran’s fourth-largest city — and shortly after President Donald Trump signaled Washington may be prepared to wind down its war against Iran without securing oil tanker access through the Strait of Hormuz, Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged a sensitive factor: that Washington understands China and Russia are involved, at some level, in support of Iran.

Asked directly at Tuesday morning’s Pentagon press briefing whether Russia, China, and North Korea were supporting Iran’s war machine with arms and intelligence, and what the United States was militarily doing to punish the “enemy coalition,” Hegseth did not deny the premise.

“The president’s been very clear on as far as Russia and China — we know exactly what they’re doing,” he said. “What they are or are not doing, we don’t have to air publicly what all of that is, but where necessary, we’re addressing it and we’re mitigating it. And we’re confronting it head on.”

The Washington Post reported, citing three senior United States officials, that Russia has been providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East, including the locations of American warships and aircraft. The United States also has intelligence suggesting that China may be preparing to provide Iran with financial assistance, spare parts, and missile components, according to multiple reports. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe confirmed before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that Iran is actively seeking intelligence assistance from Russia, China, and other American adversaries — telling senators he knew the answer on whether those countries were providing it, but was only prepared to discuss it in the classified portion of the hearing.

Trump himself told Fox News on March 13 that Russia might be helping Iran “a bit.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a day later, described Moscow’s military cooperation with Tehran as “good” — appearing to confirm earlier reporting that Russia was supplying satellite and intelligence data on the locations of American warships and aircraft.

The strategic logic behind Beijing’s involvement, some analysts say, extends well beyond the immediate battlefield.

China would not be arming Tehran out of ideological solidarity — it would be treating the conflict as a live-fire laboratory, with every engagement against a United States carrier strike group generating targeting and intercept data that Beijing's military planners will study exhaustively, refining doctrine for the single scenario China is preparing for. A potential blockade or direct assault on Taiwan.

The overnight Isfahan strike sent a massive fireball into the sky. Trump shared video of the attack on his Truth Social platform. Isfahan is home to one of three sites earlier attacked by the United States, and some of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is believed to be stored or buried there. The Wall Street Journal, citing a United States official, reported that the primary strike triggered multiple secondary explosions so powerful that the ground shook.

At the briefing, Hegseth framed the strike as proof of a campaign with unfinished business, not a wind-down. Iran had fired the lowest number of missiles and drones in the preceding 24 hours, he said. The president had been clear, Hegseth told reporters. Iran could open the Strait of Hormuz for business, or the United States had options and would continue to negotiate, in his phrase, “with bombs.”

On the Strait itself, Hegseth offered a formulation that pointedly shifted responsibility westward. “This is an international waterway that we use less than most, in fact dramatically less than most,” he said. “So the world ought pay attention and be prepared to stand up. President Trump’s been willing to do the heavy lifting on behalf of the free world to address this threat of Iran. It’s not just our problem set going forward, even though we have done the lion’s share of preparation to ensure that that strait will be open, which is an outcome.”

The remarks landed in tension with a Wall Street Journal report published Monday, which said Trump had told aides he was prepared to wind down the military campaign even if the Strait remained largely closed — with Trump and his team concluding that a mission to reopen the waterway would push the conflict beyond his preferred four-to-six-week timeline.

Trump’s own Truth Social post Tuesday morning presented a sort of strategic ambiguity, in contrast with Hegseth’s remarks.

Addressing countries facing fuel shortages because of the Iranian chokehold on the Strait — singling out Britain by name for refusing to participate in what he called the decapitation of Iran — the president offered a blunt two-part prescription: buy American fuel, or go take the Strait by force. “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself,” Trump wrote. “The U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done.”

The total death toll across the Middle East has surpassed 3,000, with more than 1,900 killed in Iran, at least 1,200 in Lebanon, and 19 in Israel. Thirteen American service members have been killed in action. Brent crude was trading above $110 a barrel Tuesday morning, compared to pre-war levels near $70.