U.S. President Donald Trump, during an announcement about a $22.5 billion renovation of Washington Dulles International Airport with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 29, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
China is helping Iran and then turning around and denying it to President Donald Trump's face, CNN's Erin Burnett said on Wednesday — and it's an international humiliation.
She discussed the issue with Seth Jones of the Center for Strategic and International Studies on "OutFront."
"Let's just be blunt here," said Burnett. "What is China doing to help Iran, both when it comes to weapons shipments and also other things? For example, a lot of the targeting, the specific targeting of U.S. bases, which the reporting has been very clear that both Russia and China have helped with."
Jones confirmed that "the Chinese are clearly a problem right now."
If the People's Republic is indeed "providing shoulder-launched weapons systems to the Iranians" capable of shooting down U.S. or Israeli aircraft, Jones said, combined with the rocket fuel they are providing to Iran to launch their missiles, "this is a disturbing trend."
"It's not dissimilar from what we've seen the Chinese do to the Russians in the Ukraine war, where they are now essentially bankrolling the Russian industrial base," Jones continued. The bottom line, he said, is that it's critical for Trump to "recognize that the Chinese are undermining both theaters right now."
"Yeah," said Burnett. "It's pretty incredible that China will go and tell him that they're not doing it. And he says, 'I take them at their word.' They continue to do it. In a sense, it's a mockery of the U.S. president."