Beijing:

China urged the United States on Friday to play a “constructive role” in the Middle East when its top diplomat, Wang Yi, spoke by phone with his U.S. counterpart, Antony Blanken.

The State Department said Blanken used the call to ask Beijing to use its influence to prevent Iran from attacking Israel. Fears of retaliation by Tehran have increased after an Israeli attack on April 1 destroyed the Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus.

China confirmed the call on Friday, saying Wang “expressed China’s strong condemnation of the attack” while stressing the “inviolable” right to security of diplomatic institutions and the need to respect the sovereignty of Iran and Syria. .

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning added that “China will continue to play a constructive role in resolving the Middle East issue… and play its role in de-escalating the situation.”

“Especially the US side should play a constructive role.”

Iran’s clerical leadership vowed to retaliate after the attack, which killed seven members of the Islamic Republic’s elite Revolutionary Guard, including two generals.

The US has repeatedly made public appeals for China to do more to deal with the crisis, including pressure on Iran, which supports Hamas.

Beijing has in turn criticized the US as biased towards Israel.

“This round of escalation is the latest manifestation of the escalation of the Gaza conflict, and it is important to end the Gaza conflict as soon as possible,” Mao said on Friday, calling for Beijing to call for an immediate ceasefire. is demanding

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that US support for Israel’s security is “ironclad”, despite his criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza.

(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)