By Zarak Khan | 2026-03-13

On February 28, US and Israeli forces launched a surprise operation dubbed "Epic Fury," striking key military and political targets across Iran.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several senior officials were killed in the attacks, including the secretary of the Defense Council, armed forces chief of staff, defense minister and commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Al Jazeera.

The operation exposed weaknesses in Iran's air defense network. Chinese-made HQ-9B surface-to-air missile batteries deployed around Tehran failed to intercept the US-Israeli attacks, in what the Economist described as "a stunning aerial success."

F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters took part in the operation, supported by drones and electronic warfare aircraft that disrupted Iranian radar systems and air defense coordination.

In the initial hours, several Chinese-origin systems -- including HQ-9B surface-to-air missiles, JY-10 and JY-26 radars and laser-based air defense equipment -- were reportedly neutralized or unable to intercept the incoming barrage.

Chinese-, Russian-built defenses were shredded twice

The operation raised questions about the ability of Iran's Chinese air defense network to face a combination of advanced aircraft, stand-off weapons and electronic warfare.

Chinese systems deployed around key sites in Tehran and nuclear facilities such as Natanz and Fordow proved useless.

"The China-made HQ-9B could not stop incoming missiles, raising doubts about its real-world performance," India Today said in a March 3 commentary.

For Tehran, it was the second time in less than a year that imported air defenses let it down.

Soon after the Iran-Israel ceasefire last June, which came after 12 days of US and Israeli bombing of Iran, Tehran rebuilt its damaged air defense network by acquiring additional Chinese missile systems.

The network that proved ineffective against Israeli and US forces last summer was heavily Russian and Iranian.

Last July, London-based Middle East Eye reported that the shipment of Chinese hardware included HQ-9B missiles and supporting radar equipment.

Since signing a 25-year strategic agreement in 2021, the Islamic Republic has solidified its role as a vital partner for China.

This relationship is increasingly focused on Chinese companies selling "dual-use components for Iran's ballistic missile and UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] programs," the Pentagon said in its 2025 report on China.

Failing on the battlefield -- again

For China, the fiasco in Iran compounds an earlier humiliation in Venezuela -- just two months ago.

China has long promoted the HQ-9B air defense system as a cost-effective alternative to Western platforms. The Chinese state-run Global Times touted it as a "missile weapon system of a new generation" in 2022.

However, Chinese weapons failed their test in Venezuela in January.

China's JY-27A anti-stealth radar was supposed to help protect Venezuela's airspace. But a US special operations team eluded the elaborate Chinese-built system that Caracas had bought, killed strongman Nicolás Maduro's bodyguards and extracted him and his wife to face trial in the United States.

"It once again exposes the weakness of Chinese/Russian/Iranian weapons," former US government adviser David Wurmser told Nikkei Asia in January, referring both to the capture of Maduro and the US-Israeli bombing of Iran last summer.

Similar scrutiny emerged following a brief four-day confrontation between India and Pakistan last May. Pakistan, which relies heavily on Chinese hardware, deployed HQ-9B systems.

Indian officials later claimed their forces blew up several targets inside Pakistan despite these deployments.

Wake-up call

Now China will have to consider what these hard lessons mean for potential use of its weapons closer to home.

China considers nearby Taiwan its own territory and has threatened to seize it by force.

"For China, this is both a lesson and a warning -- they'll be studying where Iran's defenses failed, thinking about their own vulnerabilities, and looking for ways to replicate these capabilities offensively," Ottawa-based analyst Stephen Nagy told the South China Morning Post in March.

The HQ-9 series forms a core component of the People's Liberation Army's air defense network and is heavily deployed along China's southeastern coast facing Taiwan. If these systems struggled against stealth aircraft and electronic warfare in Iran, similar vulnerabilities could raise critical questions about how they would perform in a Taiwan contingency or across the "first island chain" (which includes Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines).