A week-old Reuters report says that Iran will “get shoulder launched missiles in weeks,” according to unnamed sources.
“The contract covers the purchase of between 300 and 400 man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, the sources said. The deal was signed with Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, a Hong Kong-based company that the sources said was acting as an intermediary between the Iranian side and the Chinese supplier.”
Does Iran already have them? Alhurra/MBN reports that sources in the Iranian opposition claim that the Iranian government has indeed already received “hundreds of Chinese and Russian shoulder-fired missiles as it seeks to rebuild its air defenses” (August 6, 2026).
Chinese MANPADs
The leader of the opposition Ahwazi Liberal Party, Hamid Motashar, says that Iran
received about 400 launchers of the Chinese QW-12 and FN-16 systems, along with ammunition and spare parts, in four air shipments from Urumqi in northwestern China via Pakistani airspace.
Motashar said the IRGC Aerospace Force deployed the systems across several interior regions, including Ahvaz, to protect command-and-control centers and military installations from potential air attacks.
The QW-12 and FN-16 systems are designed to intercept low-flying aircraft, helicopters, drones and cruise missiles. They can be carried and operated by individual soldiers or mounted on military vehicles and small naval vessels.
Motashar also claimed the Iranian military used one of the Chinese systems to shoot down a U.S.-made Lucas drone near Bandar Abbas on July 13.
However, MBN “could not independently verify the reported shipments or the quantities involved.” And the U.S. has not acknowledged losing a U.S.-made Lucas drone near Bandar Abbas on July 13.
Russian MANPADs
Kurdish opposition leaders also claim that Iran has received 300 Russian-made MANPADs.
If the opposition claims are partly or wholly untrue, what is the motive for asserting them? Perhaps to induce the U.S., Israel, and any others cooperating in the war effort to attack faster and harder and better than they would if they believed the MANPADs to be only on the way rather than in the process of being set up and aimed. The goad would seem superfluous if it weren’t for the history of the war so far.
