“If the Middle East is unstable, the world will not be at peace,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday. “If the conflict escalates further, not only will the conflicting parties suffer greater losses, but regional countries will also suffer greatly.”

Mystery transport planes from China to Iran detected on FlightRadar24 have sparked speculation about China supporting its ally as tensions escalate between Iran and Israel.

China hosted a summit for African leaders last week while the Trump administration weighed adding two dozen more African countries to its travel ban list.

China and Russia positioning themselves as voices of reason, calling for de-escalation of a conflict the United States is contemplating on entering — these are the optics Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin sought to project during a phone call on Thursday.

Russian and Chinese presidents held a call on Thursday during which they both condemned Israel for striking Iran, the Kremlin said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone call on Thursday during which both leaders condemned Israel for its strikes on Iran and agreed de-escalation was needed,