David Perdue, then-nominee to serve as the U.S. ambassador to China, testifies during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, on April 3, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
President Donald Trump warned Chinese leader Xi Jinping against providing support for Iran during their Washington meeting, U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue said on Friday.
Perdue told Fox News that Beijing had assured Washington it was not providing support. “We’ve seen movement … on that already,” he said. “They assured us yesterday they’re not doing that.”
Trump told Xi that Chinese support for Iran was “totally unacceptable,” Perdue said.
Trump confirmed Friday that he and Xi discussed the war but gave no details. Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that Xi urged the United States and Iran to return to negotiations.
Before the summit, several lawmakers, including Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), urged Trump to take a tougher stance on the Chinese regime.
At a press conference, Slotkin said Chinese companies are providing data such as satellite information to Iran to target U.S. service members. She said Trump must address that.
Slotkin sent a letter to Trump earlier this month that cited a Wall Street Journal report that Iran received high-resolution satellite images of a U.S. base in Jordan from Chinese companies both before and after a July attack that killed three American service members.
“Your insistence on rolling out the red carpet for our adversaries and kicking our allies in the teeth is beyond me,” Slotkin said in a statement. “But I would hope, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the provision of targeting information by China to help Iran kill American service members would be something even you can’t tolerate. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case.”
In May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that China has provided Iran with components used to manufacture missiles, as the United States imposed sanctions on China-based companies accused of supporting Iranian military operations.
Netanyahu said China had provided Iran with “a certain amount of support” and “particular components of missile manufacturing.” He declined to identify the components or give further details.
The U.S. State Department sanctioned four entities in May, including three China-based companies, over allegations that they supported Iranian military operations.
The department said Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co. collected images of U.S. and allied military facilities in response to requests from Iran. It said another company, MizarVision, published details of U.S. military activity during Operation Epic Fury.
“The United States will continue to take action to hold China-based entities accountable for their support to Iran,” the State Department said in May.
U.S. officials have also targeted companies involved in supplying materials for Iran’s missile program. In April 2025, the Treasury Department sanctioned six entities and six individuals in Iran and China, accusing them of helping Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps obtain ingredients used in solid rocket propellant.
Reuters contributed to this report.
