I n the aftermath of the failed Iranian attack on Israel, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi rushed to defend Tehran’s aggression. In doublespeak worthy of George Orwell’s 1984, he described the wave of missiles and drones as an act of “self-defense,” and even claimed it would “spare the region further turmoil.” Wang’s comments may have been absurd, but they nonetheless reveal much about Beijing’s position on the growing conflict in the Middle East.

Although it claims to take a “friend of all” approach to the region, the Chinese Communist Party is in fact one of the Islamic Republic’s greatest supporters. As early as 2020, the two regimes signed a formal economic and security pact to increase cooperation. The CCP provides the ayatollahs diplomatic cover for their bald-faced aggression and an economic lifeline in the midst of their international isolation. In addition, the two countries participate in joint military exercises and share intelligence with each other.

This budding alliance of authoritarians is one of the gravest national-security threats the United States faces. The CCP is using the Iranian regime’s hegemonic ambitions to gain a foothold in the Middle East, which would give it major advantages in the broader global competition with the United States. American leaders cannot afford to let the CCP become entrenched in such a strategically important region.

To begin, it is important to understand the concrete benefits the CCP receives from the Iranian regime. Even while it commits horrific acts of genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, Beijing can count on the Islamic Republic for vital energy supplies. In the first ten months of 2023 alone, China became the top buyer of Iranian oil, buying an average of 1.05 million barrels per day. These exchanges keep Chinese production lines humming and prevent Iran’s economy from collapsing under the pressure of Western sanctions.

China and Iran have also forged a dangerous relationship in the weapons-manufacturing industry. In recent years, Iran has become a sort of weapons depot for the Eurasian axis — an arsenal of autocracy. The Iranian defense minister recently claimed that the regime’s arms exports have grown four to five times larger in the last two years. Iranian drones such as the Shahed-136 are commonly used by Vladimir Putin’s Russian army on Ukrainian battlefields. They are made in part with Chinese components, enabling Iranian facilities to finish production quickly and ship them across the world to spread chaos. Furthermore, China is selling Iran the kind of missile fuel it needs to manufacture weapons for Russia and arm itself against regional competitors, including both Israel and the Arab states.

To protect these Chinese investments, the ayatollahs have been working to shield China from terrorist violence committed by their “Axis of Resistance.” When the Houthis began their Iran-sponsored attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, many targeted vessels indiscriminately. Last month, however, the Islamic Republic’s Yemeni proxy met with CCP officials in Oman and agreed not to assault any more Chinese ships. In exchange, Chinese diplomats agreed to defend and back the Houthis at the United Nations. Tehran holds these terror groups’ leashes tightly, and is making sure their violence does not hurt relations with Beijing.

This diplomatic support for the Houthis runs parallel to other crucial assistance the CCP has given the Iranian regime in the international community. Beyond various efforts immediately following the latest attack on Israel, it has found ways to wage an information war and support Iranian proxies from its position on the U.N. Security Council and through its massive online troll farms. Even before the October 7 Hamas attack, China was attempting to broker peace deals favorable to Iran across the Middle East.

Iran is not the only Middle Eastern country the CCP is trying to manipulate to its advantage, either. For the past decade, China has cultivated economic relationships in the Arab world through its massive Belt and Road Initiative. The CCP has even sought to build up influence within Israel by investing in technology and infrastructure, although since the CCP’s muted reaction to the October 7 attack the Israeli government has done some good work to “quarantine” these investments. The Chinese Communist Party wants to replace the United States as global hegemon, and therefore is looking for ways to compete in every region of the world — including the Middle East.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration has done far too little to combat the ties to Iran that are vital to the CCP’s regional strategy. Reuters recently reported that American officials are unwilling to enforce secondary sanctions on Chinese entities buying Iranian oil. They worry that such a move would “destabilize” relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. But until Washington is willing to act against the Sino–Iranian coalition, the two revisionist powers will simply continue working together to undermine American interests.

The first step to undoing the harm wrought by China and Iran’s joint ventures, then, is actually enforcing these sanctions. It may cause the State Department headaches in dealing with the complaints of Chinese diplomats. But in the long run the sanctions are a key to defanging the Iranian regime and weakening the CCP.

Next, the United States should put pressure on Israel and Arab countries to rethink their relationship with the CCP. American leaders need to show that security and business cooperation with the United States is far more reliable than Beijing’s false promises and debt entrapment. Preserving the U.S.-led global order is not just in the interest of Western countries but also of smaller countries that the CCP would otherwise bully into submission. America needs every ally it can get.

Finally, the United States can show this commitment to leadership by rejecting the trajectory of regional troop withdrawals. The disastrous decision to retreat from Afghanistan sent the wrong message to both America’s friends and enemies. It has been near-universally interpreted as a sign of weakness, and doubts regarding American resolve abound. Earlier this year, the Biden administration entered talks to begin winding down America’s troop presence in Iraq as well, even though there are only about 2,500 American service members in the country. This would be highly problematic to American strategic goals in the Middle East, especially considering that some of the U.S. warplanes that shot down Iranian drones and missiles during the attack on Israel may have taken off from American bases in Iraq. As conflict heats up in the Middle East, it would be a serious mistake to withdraw more troops from the region — a mistake with global consequences.

The CCP’s support for the ayatollahs demonstrates just how interlinked the threats to American national security are. Rather than thinking about Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism, Russia’s appalling invasion of Ukraine, and China’s Pacific expansionism as separate fights, it is best to understand these as three theaters in the same large conflict. This rising Eurasian axis is fighting a joint proxy war against American global leadership — what happens in one region will surely affect what happens in the other two. The United States should not allow its friends and allies to lose ground to any of these rogue powers.

The Chinese Communist Party poses the single greatest security threat to the United States today. It has global ambitions, which it increasingly is developing capabilities to achieve, and seeks to out-compete America everywhere and every way it can. It is at the head of a revanchist coalition determined to stage a revolution against the world order. American leaders need to wake up and realize the total danger we face. In this moment of crisis, the United States cannot afford to neglect the Middle East.