What happened

Iranian ballistic missiles struck a housing area used by U.S. troops at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base on 17 July, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding four. U.S. officials later told The Wall Street Journal that Iran had obtained high-resolution imagery of the base from unnamed Chinese entities before and after the attack. The officials described that finding as evidence that Chinese-supplied commercial imagery had lethal consequences, but did not identify the suppliers, publish the underlying intelligence or allege direct involvement by China's government. China rejected the allegation and requested evidence. The same officials expressed concern that Chinese assistance could help Iran locate U.S. naval forces; that is an attributed intelligence concern, not proof that Chinese imagery guided subsequent anti-ship attacks. This July event is separate from the 8 September barrage that damaged aircraft at the same base without reported U.S. deaths.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.