Is China flexing its intelligence muscle by tracking US military moves near Iran?

A Chinese private company has drawn the attention of security watchers after detailing US military deployments near Iran, a move experts say underlines Beijing’s intelligence abilities. MizarVision, a Chinese commercial intelligence analysis firm, has consistently published monitoring posts regarding American military movements on social media over the past two years. But it has attracted fresh attention in the past month with an increase in the frequency and granularity of its posts and by including detailed deployments of various US military assets across Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Greece and Qatar. Amid escalating tensions in Iran and possible military action by Washington, the updates have detailed the exact numbers and models of US jets parked at the facilities, as well as their air defence systems. MizarVision’s latest update on Wednesday followed the arrival of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, at Crete, Greece’s largest island. The carrier is believed to be part of America’s biggest military build-up in the Middle East and its vicinity since the Iraq war in 2003. In a post on Tuesday, the firm said: “High-definition satellite imagery indicates a reduction in both tanker and transport aircraft at Al Udeid Air Base, though air defence and anti-missile systems remain deployed.” It referred to the US military base in Qatar that withstood an Iranian missile strike in June last year, located 35km (22 miles) southwest of Doha. MizarVision also monitors the US military base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, deemed a vital installation to support America’s operations and logistics in the Middle East. On Sunday, the company posted that data indicated US C-17 transport aircraft formations “were still crossing the Atlantic to deliver military supplies to the Middle East”. American media reports suggested the US military was poised to launch strikes against Iran over the past weekend. US President Donald Trump was reportedly considering a limited strike to force Tehran to agree to abandon its nuclear programme. On Tuesday, during the first State of the Union address of his second term, Trump said he preferred “to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terrorism … to have a nuclear weapon.” Iran has maintained that its programme is peaceful, denied developing nuclear weapons and threatened retaliation should it be attacked. It is highly unusual for a Chinese private commercial entity to disclose such sensitive intelligence, and it is happening as Beijing calls for Washington and Tehran to de-escalate tensions and exercise restraint. Dennis Wilder, a former senior American intelligence official and now professor of practice at Georgetown University, raised the unusual disclosures in a social media post. “What is Beijing’s purpose in allowing these photos to be published? Is it trying to prove its intelligence capabilities after the failure to detect the US extraction of [Nicolas] Maduro?” he wrote on Wednesday, referring to the special military operation in January that deposed the former Venezuelan leader. Yue Gang, a retired Chinese colonel, said the analysis could add to the progress of China’s intelligence. Such practices could “provide non-classified, low-threshold intelligence support services for domestic research institutions, overseas-operating enterprises, shipping groups and other entities with such requirements”, he added. Yue said MizarVision’s “intelligence collection and analysis capabilities can supplement China’s national intelligence capacities”, representing “a beneficial exploration contributing to China’s development as an intelligence powerhouse”. He said the move was legal and permitted by China’s regulations. However, Yue argued that MizarVision’s work was not expected to affect the Middle East situation. Military commentator and former People’s Liberation Army instructor Song Zhongping said the company’s monitoring of US military movements “demonstrates capability and is advertising”. This approach “also symbolises the strength of a nation and an enterprise”, Song added. MizarVision’s website described the company as “specialising in geographic business intelligence analysis through artificial intelligence (AI) technology”. Its services include “fully automated multi-source vessel identification, feature classification and change detection, [and] scene and data pattern recognition”, according to the website. In a social media post marking its fourth anniversary in March last year, the company said that “over these years, we have collectively witnessed our clients’ remarkable achievements”, though neither client identities nor specific successes were disclosed. MizarVision previously revealed multiple sensitive developments involving the PLA. In 2024, amid heightened tensions in the South China Sea, it released satellite imagery showing a Chinese aircraft carrier patrolling waters near the Philippines. The warship was widely identified as the Shandong, China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier. MizarVision also appears to have supplied military-related information to Chinese media. In 2023, a US Navy P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft flew over the sensitive Taiwan Strait. The PLA Eastern Theatre Command said it had “monitored and tracked the aircraft throughout its flight, handling the situation in accordance with law and regulations”. Global Times, affiliated with the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, said at the time it had obtained an audio recording captured by MizarVision via publicly accessible radio channels. The recording revealed PLA pilots calling out to the American pilots and demanding their immediate departure, Global Times reported. Also in 2023, MizarVision provided Global Times with a report alleging that in recent years the US had deployed various military assets, including high-altitude balloons, to conduct frequent reconnaissance and espionage activities around China. It came as Beijing and Washington were embroiled in a diplomatic dispute over a balloon shot down by the United States, which Washington claimed was spying for China. Beijing denied the claim. China’s space reconnaissance abilities are expanding rapidly, with its AI-driven satellite networks capable of continuously and precisely tracking important US military assets far beyond East Asia. In the Middle East, Chinese commercial firms have used high-resolution satellite imagery to monitor the extent of destruction in the Gaza Strip.

Is China flexing its intelligence muscle by tracking US military moves near Iran?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Unusually detailed posts by commercial firm MizarVision about America’s deployments in the Middle East are grabbing attention

Unusually detailed posts by commercial firm MizarVision about America’s deployments in the Middle East are grabbing attention