HEATHER CREAMER WRITES – Documents with highly sensitive intelligence on Iran’s missile program and China were part of materials recovered by the FBI during an August search of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s home in Florida, according to recent reporting from The Washington Post.
Citing at least two sources familiar with the matter, the report says that the secret documents “described highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China” and at least one of them described Iran’s missile program. These documents were considered to be among the most sensitive of the materials seized by the FBI.
The Post’s source declined to specify whether the intelligence on Iran and China was related to the paper’s previous reporting that one document seized at Mar-a-Lago detailed a foreign government’s nuclear capabilities and other military defenses.
Disclosure of the documents’ contents could include multiple risks from endangering those helping U.S. intelligence efforts to outright exposing U.S. intelligence-gathering methods, people familiar with the matter told the Post.
So far, reporting from Iran and China seems minimal. So if Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani are concerned, they’re not showing it yet. Both countries have had issues in their own borders recently.
China, once regarded as the ‘factory of the world,’ is losing more of its manufacturing and export dominance, the latest data shows. “China’s Zero Covid approach is impacting production and manufacturers are seeking for alternatives to the current ‘factory of the world,” said Antonella Teodoro, senior consultant at MDS Transmodal.
This data comes after the sweeping new controls the Biden administration imposed earlier this month on exports of technology to China, raising the pressure even more on China’s manufacturing.
Meanwhile, protests continue to rage in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian, who died in custody after she was arrested for allegedly “violating Iran’s hijab and modesty law.” While Iranian officials claimed that she died due to a heart attack, the witness statements, hospital statements, and medical evidence show otherwise.
Men and women all around the country have shown up to protest and march in the streets, both in solidarity with Mahsa and as an uprising against an oppressive system. Omid Djalili, a British-Iranian, said “This is Iran’s George Floyd moment” in an online video. Some believe the outrage and subsequent protest might even be enough to break into an anti-government revolution. The government is attempting to crack down on protests, arresting over 12,000 citizens since protests began according to data released Friday.
This comes alongside reports that Iran is supporting Russia in the war in Ukraine by providing drone weapons and military troop assistance. This leads some to wonder why Iran is proving its military strength abroad while dealing with so much unrest at home.
While the impact of these newly discovered Mar-a-Lago documents is still unclear, it is apparent that the United States, China, and Iran have many battles to confront within their own borders.
is it real