China denies report of planned shipment of missile launchers to Iran, calls it ‘not factual at all’

China on Thursday denied a media report that Iran was expected to receive an initial batch of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air defense missile launchers within weeks, calling the report “not true and not factual at all.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news briefing in Beijing that the country has made “its position clear on relevant issues on multiple occasions.”

“The reports are not true and not factual at all,” she said, emphasizing that China “always works for peace and the end of the conflict.”

Pakistan on Wednesday also “categorically” rejected the report, which claimed that Islamabad would provide transit for the shipment.

“All such speculations are baseless and devoid of truth,” Pakistan’s military media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, told Anadolu.

“Such speculations are categorically rejected,” it added.

Reuters earlier reported that Iran was expected to receive its first shipment of the air defense systems within weeks as it seeks to rebuild its defenses amid its war with the US.

Under a plan agreed by the parties, the initial deliveries would be flown from Urumqi in western China and transit through Pakistan before reaching Iran, the report said, citing unnamed sources.

The sources did not clarify whether the shipment would pass through Pakistan by air or road.