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Israeli Firm Signs MoU With Chinese Company Without Govt's Knowledge

Haifa Port (Getty Images)
Haifa Port (Getty Images)
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Israeli Firm Signs MoU With Chinese Company Without Govt's Knowledge

Haifa Port (Getty Images)
Haifa Port (Getty Images)

The Israeli Defense Ministry said an Israeli company has signed a memorandum of understanding with a state-owned Chinese corporation for a sensitive project without the Ministry's knowledge.

The Ministry said it was investigating the issue amid concern over possible US anger as Washington continues to exert pressure on the Israeli government to reduce the volume of Chinese investments.

Haaretz reported the deal on Wednesday, saying the Defense Ministry was not aware of the MoU.

The Defense Ministry contracted Israeli firm Airpark in 2019 to build a civilian aircraft manufacturing facility near the Israeli Air Force's Ovda base, in Israel's south.

The new project is meant to provide a variety of services in global civil aviation, such as upgrading aircraft and storage.

It turns out that Airpark later signed a memorandum of understanding with China's Comac, which is blacklisted by the United States.

The two companies are cooperating in various fields, and signed an agreement, in exchange for extensive remuneration, where the Chinese company will enjoy cooperation in the area of aviation as well as sharing information and advancement of technological and innovative projects that Israeli firms can offer.

The agreement includes cooperation with the Israel Air Force in operations and infrastructure, including civilian operation procedures, ground operations, training, and emergency procedures.

The United States sharply criticized Chinese involvement in Israel, especially the depth of economic cooperation which has become strategic.

The Pentagon has cautioned Tel Aviv about the expansion of Haifa Port by a Chinese company, considering it a violation of US security.

In closed-door meetings, US officials said that the Sixth Fleet would cease anchoring at the port over espionage concerns.

A security official told Haaretz that apart from the security risk posed by Comac’s involvement, possible damage to Israel's ties with the United States must also be considered.

“Such a decision requires a security assessment. The fact that the National Security Council and the Air Force were not familiar with the matter indicates possible gaps in the updating and approval processes by the relevant bodies of the construction of a civilian facility near a military base."

The official reported that the United States seeks to minimize its presence in the Middle East while reducing its economic dependence on China, and Washington will need the assistance of its partners.

However, he warned that if Chinese investments in Israel are left unaddressed, it could undermine the strategic partnership and endanger Tel Aviv's own economic dynamism and security.

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World

Report: Dual-Use Items Likely Onboard Seized Iranian Ship

A view of Iranian-flagged cargo ship M/V Touska as the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Spruance conducts its interception in a location given as the north Arabian Sea, in this screen capture from a video released April 19, 2026. (CENTCOM/Handout via Reuters)
A view of Iranian-flagged cargo ship M/V Touska as the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Spruance conducts its interception in a location given as the north Arabian Sea, in this screen capture from a video released April 19, 2026. (CENTCOM/Handout via Reuters)
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Report: Dual-Use Items Likely Onboard Seized Iranian Ship

A view of Iranian-flagged cargo ship M/V Touska as the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Spruance conducts its interception in a location given as the north Arabian Sea, in this screen capture from a video released April 19, 2026. (CENTCOM/Handout via Reuters)
A view of Iranian-flagged cargo ship M/V Touska as the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer USS Spruance conducts its interception in a location given as the north Arabian Sea, in this screen capture from a video released April 19, 2026. (CENTCOM/Handout via Reuters)

The Iranian-flagged container ship Touska, which was boarded and seized by US forces on Sunday, is likely to have what Washington deems dual-use items ‌that could be used by the military onboard, maritime security sources said on Monday, according to Reuters.

The small container ship, which is part of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) group that has been hit with US sanctions, was boarded on Sunday off the coast of Iran's Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman and last reported its position at 13:08 GMT, according to ship-tracking data on the Marine Traffic platform.

The US Central Command said Touska's crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, and that the vessel was in violation of a US blockade.

The security sources, who declined to be identified, said their initial assessments were ⁠the vessel was likely to be carrying dual-use items after a voyage from Asia.

The vessel had previously transported items deemed as dual-use, one of the sources said.

The sources did not go into details on the items.

The US Central Command has listed metals, pipes and electronic components among other goods that could have a military, as well as an industrial use and could be captured.

The Iranian foreign ministry did not comment on the incident.

Iran's military said the ship had been travelling from China and accused the US of “armed piracy,” according to state media on Monday. They said they were ready to confront US forces over the “blatant aggression,” but were constrained by the presence of crew ‌members’ families ⁠on board.

Washington imposed sanctions on IRISL in late 2019, describing it as “the preferred shipping line for Iranian proliferators and procurement agents,” which included transporting items intended for Iran’s ballistic missile program.

The Touska's crew includes an Iranian captain and Iranian crew members, although it was not clear if the entire crew were Iranian nationals, one of the sources said.

IRISL ships are under the control of the Revolutionary Guards and their crew are typically made up mainly of Iranians and sometimes also use Pakistani seafarers, two other sources added.

The vessel was detected alongside at China’s Taicang port, ⁠which is north of Shanghai, on March 25 and arrived at China's southern Gaolan port on March 29-30, according to satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax.

The vessel loaded containers onboard in Gaolan and then made a stop around the Port Klang anchorage in Malaysia on April 11-12 where it loaded further containers, according to SynMax analysis.

The vessel was laden with containers onboard ⁠when it reached the Gulf of Oman on Sunday.

China has expressed concern over the “forced interception” by the US of the Iranian-flagged cargo ship, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, urging relevant parties to abide by the ceasefire agreement in a responsible manner.

US President Donald Trump said in a post on the Truth Social platform on ⁠Sunday that the Touska was under US sanctions due to its “prior history of illegal activity,” adding that US forces were “seeing what’s on board.”

The US military widened its shipping blockade on Iran to include cargoes deemed contraband and any vessels suspected of trying to reach Iranian territory will be “subject to belligerent right to visit and search,” the US navy said in an advisory on Thursday.

World

Trump Says Recovering Iran Uranium ‘Will Be a Long and Difficult Process’

Airstrike craters are seen at the perimeter installation on Iran's Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), Qom, Iran, June 24, 2025. (AFP)
Airstrike craters are seen at the perimeter installation on Iran's Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), Qom, Iran, June 24, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Says Recovering Iran Uranium ‘Will Be a Long and Difficult Process’

Airstrike craters are seen at the perimeter installation on Iran's Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), Qom, Iran, June 24, 2025. (AFP)
Airstrike craters are seen at the perimeter installation on Iran's Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), Qom, Iran, June 24, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump said late Monday the United States obtaining uranium from Iran would be "long" and "difficult" in the aftermath of last year's US strikes on Tehran's nuclear sites.

"Operation Midnight Hammer was a complete and total obliteration of the Nuclear Dust sites in Iran," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding: "Therefore, digging it out will be a long and difficult process."

The US leader regularly uses the term "nuclear dust" to refer to Iran's stock of enriched uranium, which the United States accuses Iran of hoarding in order to make an atomic bomb.

But he has also sometimes used it to refer to material left from US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities in June last year.

The 79-year-old president maintains Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium would ultimately be transferred to US territory, despite Iran's foreign ministry denying any such plans.

The United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28 to remove what Israel described as "the existential threat" posed by the country's nuclear program.

Israeli officials say Tehran had stepped up efforts to acquire an atomic weapon since the end of the 12-day war in last June, which was launched by Israel and included US bombings of three nuclear facilities, including an enrichment plant.

World

US, Iran Warn Ready for War as Talks in Limbo

Police officers stand guard on a road leading to the Serena Hotel, as Pakistan prepares to host the US and Iran for the second phase of peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 21, 2026. (Reuters)
Police officers stand guard on a road leading to the Serena Hotel, as Pakistan prepares to host the US and Iran for the second phase of peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 21, 2026. (Reuters)
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US, Iran Warn Ready for War as Talks in Limbo

Police officers stand guard on a road leading to the Serena Hotel, as Pakistan prepares to host the US and Iran for the second phase of peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 21, 2026. (Reuters)
Police officers stand guard on a road leading to the Serena Hotel, as Pakistan prepares to host the US and Iran for the second phase of peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 21, 2026. (Reuters)

The United States and Iran each warned they were ready for war as the clock ticked down Tuesday on a ceasefire, with uncertainty on talks that President Donald Trump had announced would resume in Pakistan.

The White House said Vice President JD Vance was ready to fly back to the Pakistani capital Islamabad, which was preparing for a second round of talks on ending the war that has engulfed the Middle East and shaken global markets.

But Tehran's cleric-run government declined to confirm that it would participate and accused the United States of violating the truce through its blockade of Iranian ports and seizure of a ship.

"By imposing a blockade and violating the ceasefire, Trump wants to turn this negotiating table into a surrender table or justify renewed hostilities, as he sees fit," said Iran's powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who headed the delegations to talks two weeks ago in Pakistan.

"We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the last two weeks we have been preparing to show new cards on the battlefield," he wrote on X.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned of targeting any vessel attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without permission.

Trump has similarly accused Tehran of violating the truce by harassing vessels in the key strait, the transit passage for about a fifth of the world's oil that Iran had all but shut in retaliation for the war launched February 28 by the United States and Israel.

The channel in peacetime sees around 120 daily transits, according to Lloyd's List, a shipping industry intelligence site.

On Tuesday, the site reported that more than 20 Iranian so-called "shadow vessels", had transited past the US blockade.

In one of a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump insisted that the blockade was "absolutely destroying" Iran and said it will not end "until there is a 'DEAL'," in which the United States is pressing for Iranian concessions on its contested nuclear program.

- 'Agreed' to attend talks -

Trump told PBS News that Iran was "supposed to be there" at the talks in Pakistan.

"We agreed to be there," he said, warning that if the ceasefire expired "then lots of bombs start going off".

He separately told Bloomberg News it was "highly unlikely" he would extend the two-week truce.

Based on its start time, the truce theoretically expires overnight Tuesday, Tehran time, although in his comments to Bloomberg, Trump said the end was a day later, on Wednesday evening Washington time.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday while most stocks rose on lingering hopes for a deal to end the US-Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even as Tehran said it had not decided whether to attend peace talks.

Despite some normalcy of life returning to Tehran during the ceasefire, city residents who spoke to Paris-based AFP journalists said the situation was far from rosy.

"Let's see what happens by Tuesday," one 30-year-old doctor said on condition of anonymity.

Saghar, 39, said there was little hope for Iranians squeezed by the government and the war's impact, adding that the "economy is horrible".

- New Israel-Lebanon talks -

A separate ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon was announced on Friday and included Hezbollah, whose rocket fire in support of Iran drew Lebanon into the war.

Israel and Lebanon, which have no diplomatic relations, will hold a second round of talks on Thursday in Washington, a State Department official told AFP.

Sporadic violence continued and Israel's military warned civilians against returning to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon, claiming Hezbollah's activities were violating the truce.

The UN Security Council condemned on Monday the killing of a French peacekeeper in Lebanon, whose death France blamed on Hezbollah.

The Frenchman was killed and three others wounded when their unit was ambushed on Saturday as it headed to a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) outpost cut off from the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told AFP that his group would work to break the "Yellow Line" that Israel has established in the south, even as he said it wanted "the ceasefire to continue".

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,387 people since the start of the war, a Lebanese government body said in its latest toll.

Another major issue in the US-Iran negotiations has been Tehran's stockpile of enriched uranium, which Trump said on Friday it had agreed to hand over.

But Iran's foreign ministry has said the stockpile, thought to be buried from US bombing in last June's 12-day war with Israel, was "not going to be transferred anywhere".

Spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said handing over uranium was "never raised as an option" in talks with US negotiators.