The Trump administration has made its first comment on Western media reports that Iran is trying to ship a missile propellant ingredient from China, telling VOA it is aware of the reports published last month, while declining to confirm their veracity.

Responding to a VOA query about the purported Iranian scheme, a State Department spokesperson said in a Jan. 30 statement, “We are aware of the press reports. However, we do not comment on intelligence matters.”

Britain’s Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal in the United States published reports on Jan. 22 and 23 respectively, citing unnamed Western officials as saying Iran-flagged ships Golbon and Jairan were in the process of being loaded with 1,000 metric tons of sodium perchlorate near Ningbo on China’s eastern coast. The Financial Times described its sources as “security officials” in two Western countries, while The Wall Street Journal attributed the same information to a “Western official” and other “people familiar with the matter.”