Adversaries have watched the U.S. burn through missile stockpiles, seen new tech in action and witnessed what cheap weapons can do to a stronger foe

The Iran war has offered China, Russia and North Korea—the U.S.’s biggest security threats—a rare opportunity to learn about the capabilities and limitations of the U.S. military.

The three powers have witnessed certain new American weapons in combat for the first time, including lightning-fast precision airstrikes [assisted by artificial intelligence. But they have also seen how quickly the U.S. depleted key munitions, especially stockpiles of long-range Tomahawk missiles and Patriot interceptors. 

And they have watched how Iran’s low-cost drones have been able to threaten the U.S.’s heavily fortified Gulf allies—a potential advantage for China in a Taiwan contingency

Asked what China is taking away from the Iran conflict, Adm. Samuel Paparo, the commander of American troops in the Pacific, told Congress: “I think they see the power of small, low-cost munitions.”

Some of Iran’s military hardware is reverse-engineered from Chinese technology or relies on Chinese components. That means Beijing would be eager to access certain operational data or understand, for instance, how Iran managed to strike U.S. military bases in the Gulf region, said Nadia Helmy, a China expert at Egypt’s Beni Suef University.