China is closely tracking the scale of the Israeli Mossad’s intelligence penetration into Iran, especially after the 2025 strikes by Israel that laid bare substantial security weaknesses deep inside Iran. The most distinctive feature of China’s stance and conduct regarding this issue is its characterization of the events as the “opening of a Pandora’s box, posing risks to global security.” Chinese experts and military analysts underscore that the Israeli intelligence agency’s advances in infiltrating Iranian security services and covert sites threaten to have profound implications for global stability.
Official Beijing interprets Israel’s capacity to place operatives within Iran and incapacitate its air defense and radar networks from the inside as a novel breed of intelligence warfare, one that demands increased alertness and a reinforcement of China’s own national security. Countering the growing operations of Israeli intelligence, China has broadened its technical collaboration with Tehran, focusing on detecting embedded agents. Reports from July 2025 have documented Iranian-Chinese joint efforts to investigate how Israel gained access to official Iranian data repositories and government software systems, which house archives including civil status records and passport details. This joint initiative seeks to close the technical gaps that Mossad exploited to reach Iran’s critical military and nuclear facilities.
Furthermore, China is aiding Iran in enhancing its defensive and intelligence-gathering potential, particularly through the provision of surveillance satellites. Seeking to amplify its remote surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for more efficient monitoring of Israeli activities, Iran has approached prominent Chinese corporations, such as Chang Guang, to solicit cutting-edge technology.