Western diplomatic sources have indicated that Iran and China are in deep negotiations regarding a major energy deal involving the swap of energy for technology. This would ultimately make Iran China’s leading supplier of oil.

China’s economy (and military) desperately needs oil, natural gas and petrochemicals from Iran. In exchange, Iran is desperate for modern technology. Gholam-Reza Manouchehri, managing director of Iran’s Petropars, said, “We intend to create new opportunities by making optimum use of the facilities of both countries in the mentioned fields.”

In another report, commercially available satellite images, of the quality (objects three feet in size can be identified) once only seen by classified and advanced military organizations, are forcing the U.S. military to acknowledge various elements of China’s secret military buildup. For example, these photos make visible for the first time a secret underwater submarine tunnel.

A Pentagon official said in response, on condition of anonymity, “The Chinese have a whole network of secret facilities that the U.S. government understands but cannot make public. This is the first public revelation of China’s secret buildup.”

Washington Times journalist Bill Gertz, in describing the photos, stated that they were taken from 2000 to 2004, and show China’s Xia-class ballistic missile submarine docked at the Jianggezhuang base, located on the Yellow Sea in Shandong province. Nuclear warheads for the submarine’s 12 JL-1 missiles are thought to be stored inside an underwater tunnel that was photographed about 450 meters to the northwest of the submarine. The high-resolution satellite photo shows a waterway leading to a ground-covered facility.

Recently, U.S. intelligence agencies produced a National Intelligence Estimate (major analysis) that concluded China is using strategic deception to fool the United States and other nations about its goals and programs, including its military buildup.

Source: The World Tribune; Washington Times