China’s foreign minister tells Israeli counterpart that attacks on Iran must end

BEIJING, March 3 (Reuters) – China opposes military attacks launched by Israel and the United States against Iran and demands an immediate cessation of hostilities, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on Tuesday, his ministry said.

“Force cannot truly solve problems; instead, it often creates new problems and leaves serious long-term consequences. The real value of military force lies not on the battlefield, but in preventing war,” Wang told Saar in a telephone interview.

Explosions ripped through Tehran and Beirut on Tuesday, rattling financial markets around the world at the prospect of a prolonged disruption to global energy supplies due to the US-Israeli air war against Iran.

Wang told Saar that China believes in resolving international and regional issues through dialogue and negotiation and will continue to play a constructive role in easing the situation.

Tuesday’s call follows three calls the top Chinese diplomat made on Monday to the foreign ministers of Iran, Oman and France, in which he urged Gulf states to unite against foreign intervention.

Wang also spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday about the Iran crisis.

But Wang has not spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among several senior Iranian officials, since the start of US and Israeli attacks on Iran on Saturday.

(Reporting by Shi Bu, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo, Editing by Aidan Lewis and Gareth Jones)