Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi departed for China Tuesday for a meeting with high-level CCP officials on the status of Iran’s war with the U.S. and Israel. The trip comes roughly a week before Mr. Trump’s planned trip to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping — a trip that was initially scheduled for earlier this year but was postponed due to the war with Iran.

China and Iran inked a 25-year comprehensive strategic partnership agreement back in 2021. U.S. intelligence is closely examining the extent to which Beijing is supporting Iran in the current war. Mr. Trump has openly warned China not to provide weapons to Iran, saying last month that Beijing “is going to have big problems” if it is found to be arming Tehran. 

Mr. Araghchi is slated to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The meeting is part of a broader diplomatic tour Mr. Araghchi has undertaken over the past few weeks. He has visited Oman, Pakistan and Russia, meeting with other foreign ministers and leaders to discuss the war.

The Japanese and Australian prime ministers agreed Monday to deepen cooperation between their nations on defense, energy supplies and critical minerals. The move by the two U.S. security allies came as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made her first visit to Australia as Japan’s leader.

While the defense and energy collaboration between the two nations is unsurprising, it is notable that Ms. Takaichi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also focused on critical minerals, openly taking aim at China’s control and manipulation of the global production of heavy rare-earth minerals. The minerals are key to the production of the powerful, heat-resistant magnets used in electric vehicles and across the defense industry.

In a joint statement, the two prime ministers announced the “elevation of critical minerals as a core pillar of our economic security relationship.” The Associated Press reported that under the collaboration, Australia will provide up to $930 million to support critical minerals projects involving Japan.

As global energy markets teeter on the edge of chaos, a shadow war is heating up over the world’s fuel supply that could determine the future of the Ukraine war. While Russia’s oil revenue recently soared to a record $9.7 billion a month, effectively bankrolling its military operations, Ukraine has launched a bold new drone campaign to strike Moscow where it hurts most — its energy infrastructure.

Threat Status Special Correspondent Joseph Hammond breaks down the high-stakes energy war in an exclusive video analysis, explaining the impact and reasoning behind controversial U.S. sanctions waivers that the Trump administration has granted to countries buying Russian oil, and secret oil-for-missile deals shaping the conflict.

Mr. Hammond also unpacks Ukraine’s response to the rise in Russian oil profits, with a particular focus on Kyiv’s use of drone strikes around Russian oil facilities on the Baltic seaboard and around the Caspian Sea region. The Ukrainian campaign has sought to curtail Russian oil exports and hinder Moscow’s ability to profit from the large spike in oil prices tied to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.

Former CIA Director of Operations Officer Tom Lyons, one of the founders of the 2430 Group, explains in an exclusive interview on the latest episode of the Threat Status weekly podcast how the CCP’s intelligence arms are engaged in targeted and systematic theft of intellectual property for advanced technology designed by American companies.

“I think it’s important for all of us to understand that the world has changed and we are in the middle of the largest transfer of wealth and technology in human history, and most of it is going in one direction,” Mr. Lyons says on the podcast. “It’s going from the United States and its allies to the People’s Republic of China, and it’s not accidental. It’s intentional. It is their policy, and it’s been going on for decades.”

He explains how the nonprofit side of the 2430 Group works to uncover state-sponsored threats to U.S. industry and has as its mission educating and equipping private businesses, universities, nongovernmental organizations and government agencies to defend against intellectual property theft.

It is “not always easy to align with President Trump, whose record with America’s allies has included flirting with seizing Greenland from NATO ally Denmark and supporting movements that attack the European Union,” writes Dan Perry, a former Europe-Africa and Middle East editor of The Associated Press.

“Mr. Trump should understand that weakening the alliance was a terrible mistake,” Mr. Perry writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times. “Repairing the rupture with America’s erstwhile European allies is a strategic necessity, and this is something that every one of the president’s generals (and surely Secretary of State Marco Rubio) should be explaining to him.”

Mr. Perry argues, “Mr. Trump must reverse course, which means ending interference in European politics, ceasing rhetorical attacks on NATO partners and recognizing that collective defense is not a transactional arrangement.”

• May 5 — Untangling the Web of U.S. Alliances, Stimson Center

• May 6 — A Conversation with Japan’s Former Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Policy Outlook and Solutions, Hudson Institute  

• May 6 — U.S.-Japan-Philippines Trilateral Cooperation, Center for a New American Security 

• May 7 — Chernobyl’s Legacy 40 Years On, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• May 7-9 — The Artificial Intelligence+ Expo, Special Competitive Studies Project 

• May 8 — Is Russia’s War Machine Running Out of Steam? Atlantic Council

• May 13 — Forging the Next Era for the U.S.–Republic of Korea Alliance in Economic and National Security at America’s 250th, Stimson Center