‘DEEP CONCERN’ IN BEIJING AS IRAN TARGETS ISRAEL
China joins other nations in calling for restraint in the wake of the drone and missile assault that has further exacerbated tensions in the region
The foreign ministry in Beijing yesterday expressed “deep concern” over the escalation of conflict in the Middle East following Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel, while its embassy in Tehran has warned Chinese nationals and companies to take extra security precautions.
Middle East tensions already heightened by the Israel-Gaza war were further exacerbated late on Saturday when Iran staged its first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory, launching more than 300 drones and missiles.
Almost all were intercepted before they reached Israel with help from the United States, Jordan and Britain, the Israeli army said. The strikes caused only minor damage to one Israeli military base, officials said.
Iran said Saturday’s assault was a response to the April 1 air strike on Tehran’s consulate building in the Syrian capital Damascus that killed at least seven military advisers and was widely blamed on Israel.
It remained unclear how Israel would respond with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant saying “the campaign is not over yet – we must remain alert”.
China joined other nations in calling for restraint.
“China expresses deep concern over the current escalation and calls on relevant parties to exercise calm and restraint to prevent further escalation,” the foreign ministry said yesterday.
“This round of escalation is the latest manifestation of the spillover of the Gaza conflict. The most urgent task is to effectively implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728 and cease the Gaza conflict as soon as possible,” it said, referring to a resolution adopted last month calling for a ceasefire.
“China calls on the international community, especially influential countries, to play a constructive role in maintaining regional peace and stability.”
Although the statement did not specify which “influential countries” it was referring to, Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the United States to play a “constructive role” in the Middle East during a phone call with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday.
Yesterday morning, the Chinese embassy in Iran reminded Chinese citizens to “strengthen safety precautions” as the “local situation in Iran is becoming more serious and complex”. “Please resolutely avoid travelling to sensitive areas and crowded places,” the embassy said on its WeChat account.
The foreign ministry also joined the call, reminding Chinese citizens to “remain cautious about travelling to Iran”.
The UN Security Council was due to hold an urgent meeting late yesterday following Iran’s attack. Israel has called on the Security Council – in which China holds a permanent seat alongside the US, Britain, France and Russia – to condemn the Iranian attack and list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the main branch of Iran’s armed forces, as a terrorist organisation.
Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran yesterday morning to show their support for the attack on Israel.
US President Joe Biden – who monitored Iran’s attack with members of his national security team in the White House Situation Room – condemned the assault and reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad” support for Israel.
Chinese analysts say Iran’s attack is unlikely to have a substantial impact on relations between China and the two countries.
Zhu Yongbiao, a professor with the school of politics and international relations at Lanzhou University, said: “If the situation gets worse, it will have a big impact not only on China, but also on the whole regional situation and world security, which is something China does not want to see.”
Zhu added that there was “very wide scope” for China in the Middle East conflicts, including “at a higher level by stopping further escalation of the IranIsrael conflict, and at another level by opening humanitarian access to Gaza”.
Yin Gang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, echoed this view, saying that Tehran’s attack would have “no impact” on China’s relations with Iran or Israel.
“Beijing calls for restraint on both sides, and this is a stance taken for granted and has no special significance,” he said. According to Yin, the attack was rather “a way for Iran to calm the anger of its people”.
Wang Jin, an associate professor at the Institute of Middle East Studies at China’s Northwest University, said Beijing’s statement was “timely” and “acceptable to all parties to the conflict”.
He said the foreign ministry’s statement, which did not condemn the Iranian attack, was consistent with Beijing’s position that the suspected Israeli attack earlier this month amounted to “spillover” to other countries and that Iran’s attack was a “countermeasure and retaliation”.
Beijing had condemned the suspected Israeli attack.
China is playing a greater role in the Middle East and facilitated the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in March 2023.
Iran warned Israel and the United States yesterday of a much larger response if there is any retaliation for its mass drone and missile attack on Israeli territory overnight, as Israel said “the campaign is not over yet”.
The threat of open warfare erupting between the arch Middle East foes and dragging in the US has put the region on edge as Washington said America did not seek conflict with Iran but would not hesitate to protect its forces and Israel.
Iran launched the attack over a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Syria on April 1 that killed top commanders and followed months of clashes between Israel and Iran’s regional allies, triggered by the war in Gaza.
However, the attack from hundreds of missiles and drones, mostly launched from inside Iran, caused only modest damage in Israel as most were shot down with the help of the US, Britain and Jordan. An air force base in southern Israel was hit but continued to operate as normal and a seven-year-old child was seriously hurt by shrapnel. There were no other reports of serious damage.
Israel praised the success of its defences in the face of the unprecedented attack by Iran. An Israeli military spokesman said the launches numbered more than 300, but 99 per cent of them were intercepted.
“We intercepted, we repelled, together we shall win,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on social media ahead of a planned meeting of the war cabinet to discuss a response to the attack.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said despite thwarting the attack, the military campaign was not over and “we must be prepared for every scenario”.
Centrist war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Israel would exact a price from Iran when the time was right.
“We will build a regional coalition and exact the price from Iran in the fashion and timing that is right for us,” Gantz said in a statement as the Israeli war cabinet was due to convene to discuss Israel’s response to Iran’s attack.
Israel’s Channel 12 TV cited an unnamed Israeli official overnight as saying there would be a “significant response” to the attack.
Global powers China. Russia and France, as well as Arab states Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, urged restraint.
The Islamic Republic’s mission to the United Nations said its actions were aimed at punishing “Israeli crimes”, but that it now “deemed the matter concluded”.
Iranian army chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri warned on television that “our response will be much larger than tonight’s military action if Israel retaliates against Iran” and told Washington its bases could also be attacked if it helped Israel retaliate.
US President Joe Biden said he would convene a meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven major economies yesterday to coordinate a diplomatic response to what he called Iran’s brazen attack.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said America did not seek conflict with Iran but would not hesitate to act to protect US forces and support the defence of Israel.
The UN Security Council was set to meet late on Sunday after Israel requested it condemn Iran’s attack and designate the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for an immediate halt to hostilities.
“I strongly condemn the serious escalation represented by the large-scale attack launched on Israel by the Islamic Republic of Iran this evening,” Guterres wrote in a statement on Saturday. “I am deeply alarmed about the very real danger of a devastating region-wide escalation.”
Analysts debated how far Iran’s attack was calibrated to cause genuine devastation in Israel or to save face at home after vows of revenge while avoiding a major new war.
“I think the Iranians took into consideration the fact that Israel has a very, very strong multilayer anti-missile system and they probably took into consideration that there will not be too many casualties,” said Sima Shine, a former senior Mossad official at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
The war in Gaza, which Israel invaded after an attack by Iranbacked Hamas on October 7, has ratcheted up tensions in the region, spreading to fronts with Iran-aligned groups in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
On Saturday Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized an Israel-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes, underscoring the risks to the world economy of a wider conflict.
Iran’s most powerful ally in the region, the Lebanese Hezbollah – which has been exchanging fire with Israel since the Gaza war began – said early yesterday it had fired rockets at an Israeli base.
Drones were also reportedly launched against Israel by Yemen’s Houthi group, which has attacked shipping lanes around the Red Sea to show solidarity with Hamas, said British maritime security company Ambrey.
I am alarmed about the very real danger of a region-wide escalation ANTONIO GUTERRES, UN SECRETARY-GENERAL