A striking phenomenon is emerging from China as the Middle East conflict presses on: technically skilled civilians are volunteering their expertise online to help Iran counter US military might, without seeking payment or official backing.

The trend was vividly illustrated on March 14, when a detailed tutorial on taking down America’s F-35 appeared on Chinese social media and went viral.

Created by the account “Laohu Talks World” and subtitled in Persian, the video meticulously explained how Iran could use its low-cost systems to target and destroy the advanced stealth fighter.

It drew tens of millions of views. Five days after the post, on March 19, Iran claimed it had struck a US F-35.

The effort to help has hardly been isolated since the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28.

Across Chinese social media, many people with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) have created and shared content aimed at helping Iran’s war effort. Some appear to possess expert knowledge of military equipment.

Their content has covered a wide spectrum, such as providing precise US military base coordinates in the region, proposing missile strategies against US aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf and simulating defence against a possible US landing on Iran’s Kharg Island.

The sheer scale of China’s STEM talent pool is significant. The country produces about five million STEM graduates annually, about 1.3 million of whom are engineers. This vastly outpaces the United States, which graduates about 130,000 engineers each year.

Within this substantial pool, one segment is turning its analytical skills towards open-source military strategy.

And the motivations are mostly personal, not financial or backed by the government.

The creator of the Laohu account at one point studied at Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), a top Chinese institution focused on defence research and itself a target of US sanctions, according to a source familiar with the creator.

In 2001, Washington designated NPU in Xian as an entity of concern, maintaining the institution worked directly with the People’s Liberation Army to develop sensitive defence technologies, including drones.

“Many of [the creator’s] classmates are working in the military and equipment industries,” said the source, who declined to be identified citing the sensitivity of the matter.

The account provides intricate analysis for Iran, outlining how readily available, low-cost weaponry like infrared missiles, mobile launchers and improvised sensors could challenge sophisticated US systems including those of an aircraft carrier.

The source described Laohu’s work as driven by personal conviction rather than profit.

“He is not short of money now. He makes videos just for fun,” the source explained.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 civilians in Iran have died as a result of the American-Israeli military operations, according to figures from Tehran and human rights activists, including one strike in the southern city of Minab that killed at least 168 schoolchildren.

Such tragedies have elicited anger and pity among many Chinese people, with some wanting to help Iran resist the US.

According to the source, this sentiment reflects a main driver for these volunteers – a desire to demystify and counter perceived American military dominance.

Some Chinese military analysts see it as part of a broader decentralised trend in which civilian creators leverage open-source intelligence and technical knowledge to produce militarily informed analysis that crosses borders.

The creators reach audiences in active conflict zones, they observed, showing that military knowledge-sharing was no longer confined to state channels.

For now, there is no evidence suggesting these online analyses have directly influenced events in the war.

Iran’s embassy in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.