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THREATS TO CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN IRAN CONFLICT

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‘Knowledge-based’ economy facilitates tech transfers to Iran

U.S. Air Force F-15 aircraft fly over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. An F-15 was downed in early April by a Chinese-made system. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Sean Carnes)
By Tuvia Gering •

Iran’s network of state-run “innovation houses” and trade platforms is a main channel for acquiring sanctioned dual-use technology from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Like the oil trade, it is steered from the top on both sides and shielded by mutual deniability.

The Iranian Vice Presidency for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-Based Economy (VPST) and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked arm, embeds Iranian firms in the PRC’s military-civil fusion and united front systems, and steers them toward military-linked suppliers.

Throughput is still modest, but wartime devastation, a new U.S. oil-sanctions waiver, and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s elevation as Iran’s special envoy for the PRC are hardening the network into a durable procurement pipeline, positioned to tap into the proposed $300 billion reconstruction fund.

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