Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Used UAE Firm to Obtain Chinese Satellite Gear for Drone Program

A company registered in the United Arab Emirates helped Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps purchase Chinese-made satellite equipment connected to its drone program, the Financial Times reported Sunday, citing leaked contracts and shipping records.

The records show the IRGC’s Aerospace Force obtained a 4.5-meter motorized satellite antenna from Chinese manufacturer StarWin in late 2025.

The shipment, dated October 2025, totaled nearly 1.8 tonnes spread across six cases and was listed in customs paperwork as “antenna and accessories,” the Financial Times reported.

The equipment left Shanghai aboard a Chinese container ship, the Zhong Gu Yin Chuan, bound for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

The ship made a stop in Dubai, dropping off a container on Aug. 28, 2025. That container was then picked up on Nov. 23, 2025, by the Iranian vessel Rama III, the newspaper said.

GPS tracking data indicated the Rama III was moving through the Persian Gulf with a short pause off Oman.

However, the Financial Times said satellite imagery taken on the same day did not confirm the ship’s reported position, raising the possibility that the vessel had been spoofing its location.

Satellite images captured Nov. 29 showed a ship matching the Rama III’s dimensions and colors entering Bandar Abbas port, the Financial Times reported.

The Financial Times said a contract it reviewed named Telesun as the buyer of the equipment. Telesun describes itself as a UAE-based provider of fixed and mobile satellite communications systems serving the Middle East and North Africa region.

The firm bought the hardware for Ertebatat Faragostar Kish, an Iranian telecommunications company carrying out work for Iran’s Saman Industrial Group, according to the Financial Times.

Telesun, the UAE Foreign Ministry, and Iran’s embassy in London did not reply to the newspaper’s requests for comment, the Financial Times said.

The findings follow a report published two weeks earlier by the New York Times, which said U.S. officials had information showing Chinese companies had been in talks with Iranian counterparts about covert arms sales.

The plan involved moving weapons through other countries to mask where they came from, the paper reported.

U.S. officials told the New York Times it was not clear whether shipments had already taken place or how many deals had received approval from Chinese authorities. Those briefed on the matter disagreed on the specifics, the newspaper said.

Officials also told the paper that at least one country involved in the transit plan was in Africa.

Washington did not believe Beijing had officially signed off on delivering finished arms to Iran, U.S. officials said, though they added it was unlikely Chinese authorities had no knowledge of the talks.

(With files from The Financial Times | The Jerusalem Post)

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