Chinese Firms Used AI Satellites to Show Iran Exactly Where US Troops Were Stationed in the Middle East

Three Chinese companies used artificial intelligence to pinpoint American fighter jets, fuel depots, and radar installations across the Middle East, then published the findings on open platforms accessible to anyone, including Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The US Department of State sanctioned four entities on 8 May, including these three Chinese firms, for providing satellite imagery and geospatial intelligence that enabled Iranian military strikes against American forces during Operation Epic Fury. The sanctioned companies are Meentropy Technology, operating as MizarVision, Beijing-based The Earth Eye, and Chang Guang Satellite Technology.

What the AI Actually Did

This wasn't traditional espionage. MizarVision, a Hangzhou-based geospatial intelligence firm with partial state ownership, didn't operate spy satellites. It purchased commercially available high-resolution imagery, including from Western providers, and ran it through machine learning algorithms trained to recognise military signatures. The AI tagged aircraft, hardened shelters, fuel storage sites, radar systems, and troop concentrations automatically. A process that once took intelligence agencies hours was compressed into minutes.

The results were posted publicly on Weibo and X. In late February, MizarVision published annotated satellite images of F-22 stealth fighters at Israel's Ovda Air Base, KC-135 tankers and E-3 early warning aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and force deployments at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

It tracked both US aircraft carriers in the region, the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln, and followed a Navy P-8A patrol jet from Bahrain to the Arabian Sea.

US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) officials assessed that the IRGC was actively exploiting these datasets to refine missile and drone strike planning, according to reporting by ABC News on 5 April.

A Pattern, Not an Isolated Case

Chang Guang Satellite Technology had already faced US sanctions starting in December 2023 for aiding Russian forces, and was later accused by the State Department of supplying satellite imagery to Iran-backed Houthi forces targeting US military assets in the Red Sea.

The Earth Eye was accused of providing satellite imagery directly to Iran during the same period.

The Bigger Problem for the Pentagon

The commercial satellite imagery sector has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, with China operating the largest commercial imaging programme outside the US. The Trump administration asked American providers to voluntarily withhold imagery of the Middle East in April, prompting Planet Labs to restrict access retroactively from 9 March. But Washington can't control Chinese firms selling AI analysis on open platforms for the cost of a subscription.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the provision of satellite imagery to Iran 'threatens American and partner personnel.' The State Department added that 'the targeting of US service members and partners will not go unanswered.'

MizarVision responded to the sanctions with defiance. The firm posted the US sanctions notice alongside job listings in a recruitment advertisement on Chinese social media, treating the designation as what users described as 'free publicity.'

The sanctions arrived days before President Donald Trump's planned 14-15 May visit to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticised the designations, stating that Beijing opposes unilateral sanctions lacking a basis in international law.

For families of the roughly 45,000 US service members deployed across the Middle East, the implications are personal. The bases identified in MizarVision's posts were not hypothetical targets. Several, including Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, were hit by Iranian drone and missile strikes during the conflict.