INTREP360 INTELLIGENCE REPORT
04.06.2026
April 6th, 2026
Greetings!
Forgive the classic rock reference, but it fits. Especially on a day that the Artemis II space capsule & crew of four U.S. astronauts—Commander Reid Wiseman, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Pilot Victor Glover, and one Canadian, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen—set a space travel record for distance from the Earth.
Spectacular as it was—and we are old enough to remember watching the first lunar landing in 1969—here, back on Earth there is a bad moon rising between the U.S. & China across nearly every domain.
AI image credit: Grok. Original moon image credit: NASA. The image of the moon today taken by the Artemis II crew.
That includes economics, space, Taiwan & now in Iran as China is openly providing the Iranian regime with targeting information to hit U.S. & Israeli military forces & assets. Coincidentally, Creedence Clearwater Revival released their classic rock hit in 1969.
John Fogerty—the rock song’s writer & lead singer—was right then & now, we are “in for nasty weather” as President Donald Trump & Chinese President Xi Jinping go head-to-head competing for global dominance ahead of their Beijing summit in May.
Given Trump’s 24-hour extension to Iran that ends tomorrow at 8 PM ET to make a deal or risk being bombed into “the stone age” as he put it, we thought it timely to catch up on Beijing’s latest machinations.
Let’s get started. There is a lot to cover.
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EMBRACE THE MOON
The Earth’s moon—bad or not—is a good place to begin. China—no doubt partly in response to NASA’s Artemis II moon mission—is aggressively developing plans to land on the moon by 2030. The Chinese lunar module is called Lanyue which when translated from Mandarin means ‘embrace the moon.’
Photo credit: Maxim Shemetov / Reuters. Chinese Shenzhou-21 spacecraft launching at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China.
By 2035, Beijing—in partnership with Moscow—intends on building phase one of a permanent International Lunar Research Station. By 2045, according to Wu Weiren, the head of China’s lunar exploration program, is planning to expand the moon base to “carry out in-depth resource development and utilization, and relevant technical verification and scientific research for manned landing on Mars.”
Until now, since 1969, the U.S.—symbolically-speaking has owned the moon. Beijing is now saying, not so fast. Not only is China determined to compete & surpass the U.S. on the moon, but they are, alarmingly, also doing so with Russia—their Axis of Evil partner.
The space race is beginning anew. Especially when it comes to determining who will get to choose where to “build future lunar infrastructure.” Space may well be the ‘final frontier’ to borrow from Star Trek, but it is—increasingly—the newest frontier in which the U.S. & China are competing against each other.
For now, Washington intends to win that race. Jared Isaacman—Trump’s nominee to head NASA—said, “NASA has stated we will return Americans to the moon before the end of President Trump’s term. Our great competitor [China] said before 2030.”
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MIZARVISION
Retired Australian Major General Gus McLachlan has warned that MizarVision—a Chinese global intelligence company based in Shanghai—is posing a threat to U.S. forces deployed to the Middle East. Significantly, he noted that the company’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to “help Iran target US and allied forces to within a third of a square meter.”
Photo credit: MizarVision. Satellite view of a U.S. military facility in the U.S. published by MizarVision.
McLachlan noted that, “We’re seeing targets, including a US E-3 Sentry plane, being hit with incredible precision.” If so, then in real world terms—any military weapon system, munitions depot or group of soldiers—left in any given spot for “24 hours” could now being extremely “vulnerable” to “Iranian targeting.”
Ryan Fedasiuk, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute went further. He believes that MizarVision’s technology is capable of targeting U.S. forces in real time.
Notably—since the beginning of the war in Iran on February 28th—Russia is also providing Iran with targeting intel to attack U.S. forces. Earlier today, The Jerusalem Post reported that Ukraine told Israel that “Russian intelligence has provided Iran with a detailed list of 55 critical energy infrastructure targets within Israel.”
Up and until now, the U.S. has also largely owned outer space from a military standpoint. That window is now rapidly closing. Plus, it is closing from three angles—Russia, China & Iran from a usage standpoint.
As an aside, one of our greatest frustrations is the failure of many analysts to connect the wars in Ukraine & Iran as being one & the same. It is the Axis of Evil against the U.S. We first made this point on Fox News back in November 2023. Then it was largely ideological. Now, it is increasingly kinetic.
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AMMONIUM PERCHLORATE
Beijing isn’t just helping Iran find targets. It is actively helping Tehran to strike them by providing key “dual-use materials and expertise critical to solid-fuel missile production.” That includes supplying the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) large quantities of ammonium perchlorate—a key precursor chemical—and others like it that are used to fuel Iran’s medium-range ballistic missiles that are hitting Israel & the Gulf States.
China has also sold the IRGC “advanced composites, precision machine tools and guidance components such as accelerometers” that are used in Iran’s domestic production of ballistic missiles & drones. Notably, these materials & technologies have significantly improved Iran’s accuracy in hitting targets compared to the 12 Day War last June.
Plus, four days prior to the start of the war—on February 24th—Reuters, in an exclusive, reported that the IRGC was nearing a deal to buy supersonic anti-ship weapons from Being that could have threatened U.S. naval ships including the USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Tripoli & the USS Boxer now on station in the Arabian Sea.
Had they been delivered—so far, they have not been—the CM-302 missiles have a range of 180 miles. They could have been a gamechanger. As Danny Citrinowicz—a former Israeli intelligence officer—was quoted as saying, “These missiles are very difficult to intercept.”
Likewise, pre-war, Russia was also bolstering Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal. Especially Iran’s Fattah 1 & Fattah 2 missiles which Iranian sources—according to The Jerusalem Post—are capable of near hypersonic speed. Ditto North Korea—another Axis of Evil ally—whose technologies were used to develop Iran’s Shahab-3 and Kheibar Shekan missiles.
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ANTELOPE REEF
China—after a pause of nearly a decade—is back at it turning reefs into islands in the South China Sea. Antelope Reef—as reported by The Wall Street Journal—is Beijing’s latest strategic endeavor to militarize the disputed waters. The reef is part of the Paracel Islands—an archipelago—in the northern part of the South China Sea. Vietnam & Taiwan also have laid claims to islands in the chain.
Western analysts believe it ultimately will house a military “runway, more missile facilities and additional surveillance installations.”
Antelope Reef is also—in effect—Beijing’s attempt to create a strategic stranglehold in the South China Sea in the air & at sea. China has already finished similar island-building projects in the Scarborough Shoal & Spratly Islands.
In total, with the addition of Antelope Reef, Xi will have created 21 “outposts in the Paracel Islands and 7 in the Spratlys.
Why is it important?
Two reasons. In 2016, it was estimated that over 33% of global trade by volume passes through the South China Sea. Secondly, if China invades Taiwan, U.S. control over the South China Sea would be vital to any defense of Taipei.
The strategic stakes are big ones.
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DRAGON DRONE SWARMS
The Institute for the Study of War warned last week that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is “emphasizing the development of AI-enabled [drone] swarm technology.” The idea would be to “overwhelm advanced air defenses in Taiwan and US military infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific during a conflict.”
Mythological dragons—especially in Japan & Chinese lore—often come from the sea. Now, in the near future, they may come from Beijing in the air. The PLA is quickly applying lessons learned from the revolution in drone warfare in Ukraine.
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SICHUAN NUKES
Chinese villagers in 2022 began complaining to local officials after their land in the Sichuan province was confiscated by the state. CNN, earlier this month, reported why: “More than three years after the evictions, satellite images show, their village has been flattened and, in its place, new buildings erected to support some of China’s most important nuclear weapons production facilities.”
As we’ve noted here previously, Beijing is rapidly modernizing its nuclear arsenal. Xi’s intent is for China to be able to field 1,000 nuclear weapons by 2030. While that number––if achieved––will still significantly lag the U.S. & Russia arsenal, it would be more than enough to dominate the Indo-Pacific.
Add a nuke race to the space race. The Cold War—increasingly hot in places like Ukraine, the Sahel in Africa & now in Iran—is definitely back. Plus, the Dragon-Bear—China & Russia—are in it to win it.
$1.5 trillion in new proposed defense spending may seem excessive on the surface. Yet, if we factor in all of the above, it may not—alarmingly—be enough to ensure that the U.S. wins World War III.
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ICYMI #1!
Saturday evening, Mark appeared on TVP World’s Main Edition of World News Tonight. He discussed that the front situation is the best it has been for Ukraine in the last 20 months dating back to June 2025. Klaudia Czerwińska hosted.
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ICYMI #2!
Sunday afternoon, Mark also appeared on Al Qahera network to discuss the latest on the war in Iran. It got a little heated, but he kept emphasizing the importance for viewers in Egypt to pay more attention to Trump’s actions than his words.
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ICYMI #3!
Earlier last week, Jon appeared on DMC TV in Egypt to discuss the war in Iran with Osama Kamal, a highly regarded Egyptian media veteran.
You can watch it here on our flegding YouTube channel.
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Thank you for reading! We will see you tomorrow. Please subscribe, comment & share. We truly appreciate it!
Jon & Mark
Follow Jon on X at @JESweet2022 or on Bluesky at @JonSweet.bsky.social. Follow Mark on X at @MCTothSTL or on Bluesky at @MarkToth.bsky.social.
$1.5 trillion at the expense of the lower class, natural resources, science, etc....they keep squeezing the turnips, but eventually the turnips will die.