The Israeli military announced the commencement of airstrikes against dozens of targets across Iran, claiming they were directly linked to the Iranian nuclear program and other military facilities. The operation was codenamed “Nation of Lions.” In preparation for this, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet to coordinate the military strike on Iran. The Israeli strike came as American and Iranian officials were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks on the Iranian nuclear program in the Omani capital, Muscat, on Sunday, June 15, 2025. However, the talks appear to have reached a dead end following the Israeli attacks on Tehran. I believe that Israel exploited the International Atomic Energy Agency’s statement issued the day before its strike on Iran, specifically on Thursday, June 12, 2025, when the agency issued a resolution stating that “Iran is not adhering to its nuclear non-proliferation obligations,” the first rebuke of its kind from the IAEA to Iran. For its part, Iran condemned the decision, considering it an attack on the credibility and prestige of the agency. This is the same statement that Israel relied on to launch military strikes against Iran, claiming that Iran’s failure to dismantle its nuclear program and facilities would impact Israeli national security, fearing a potential Iranian nuclear attack on Tel Aviv.
It should be noted that several Israeli officials confirmed that the strike on Iran was preemptive, despite there being no immediate indications that Iran was planning an actual attack on Israel. The Israeli military itself confirmed this in a statement, stating that it acted “in response to the Iranian regime’s ongoing aggression against Israel and that there is more to come,” describing the Israeli attack on Iran as only the “first stage.” To this end, the Israeli strikes targeted elements of the Iranian nuclear program and the regime’s long-range missile capabilities. With the Israeli military intelligence unit confirming that Iran is working on a secret program to assemble a nuclear weapon and has enough material to assemble 15 nuclear bombs within days, the Israeli military and military intelligence have not provided supporting details. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the Iranian nuclear program as a “clear and direct threat to Israel’s survival.”
As for the American position on an Israeli military attack on Iran, it came through US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who announced the United States’ refusal to participate in an Israeli attack on Tehran. He stated that Israel had already informed the United States that the military strike it launched against Iran was necessary for its own defense, and he warned the Islamic Republic of Iran against targeting American interests in the region. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed in an official statement that Washington was not involved in the attack on Iran and that the United States’ current priority is to protect its forces in the region. He stated that “We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our absolute priority is to protect US forces in the region.”
Regarding China’s position on Israel’s military attacks against Iran, Beijing condemned and expressed its strong denunciation of the blatant Israeli attacks against Iran, which undermine Iranian sovereignty and security and constitute a clear violation of international laws and norms. In this context, China called on the international community and the UN Security Council to assume a significant responsibility to immediately halt this blatant Israeli aggression against Tehran. China also condemned all military attacks launched by the Israeli army against Iran, which Beijing considered a blatant and extremely dangerous regional escalation, a flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter, and a direct threat to regional and international peace and security. This Israeli attack on Iran will affect maritime traffic, maritime transport, and logistics through the Egyptian Suez Canal and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait; disrupt global trade; and harm Chinese interests in the Middle East and around the world. To this end, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called on relevant parties to act in ways that serve regional peace and stability, while China officially expressed its willingness to play a constructive role in calming the volatile situation in the region following Tel Aviv’s attack on Tehran.
Here, the Chinese analysis of the American statement rejecting Washington’s participation in Israel’s attack on Iran came with Iran directing direct accusations at the United States, Israel’s ally, regarding it as responsible for the consequences of the Israeli strikes launched against targets inside Tehran. The Chinese themselves asserted that Israel’s hostile steps against Iran could not have been carried out without coordination, direct authorization, and support from the United States. China also held Washington responsible for the dangerous impact and repercussions of Tel Aviv’s military adventures on Iran.
The Chinese analyses also rely on Tel Aviv coordinating these Israeli military strikes on Iran with Washington. There is a strong indication of this: the United States withdrew its diplomats from Iraq and several other parts of the Middle East in preparation for a regional escalation, specifically before Israel launched its attacks on Iran on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Washington also allowed the families of American soldiers to leave other parts of the Middle East. This supports the Chinese view that Washington coordinated these Israeli attacks against Iran and prepared for all possible scenarios days in advance.
Several actual Chinese indications emerged that Israel was coordinating its positions with Washington regarding military strikes against Iran several months ago. These include what happened and was analyzed by Chinese political, intelligence, and security circles regarding the US military repositioning and deployment several months before the strike on Iran, specifically at the US military base at Diego Garcia in the central Indian Ocean, a joint British-US base. Chinese military and security circles viewed with suspicion the US dispatching seven B-2 bombers to its airfield. Chinese military, security, and intelligence circles analyzed this as a sign of the imminent US military strike against Iran. This, for the Chinese, could herald the potential collapse and downfall of the Iranian regime in the event of intensive US military strikes.
China also links the recent Gaza war to the Israeli military strikes on Iran, following confirmation of Egypt’s categorical rejection, along with that of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s political leadership, of the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Unusual movements of Egyptian military weapons have been observed in Sinai. To this end, Israel seeks to settle its regional scores, having become aware of the intentions of some regional countries to confront the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
China fears any possibility of the Iranian regime falling after Tel Aviv’s attacks against it, with Washington’s help, encouragement, and support. The fall of the Iranian regime would likely result in the establishment of a “Kurdistan State,” whose territory encompasses long borders between Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. This would result in a great deal of chaos after Tel Aviv wages wars on several fronts. The Chinese themselves fear this, as Washington and Tel Aviv plan to direct these military attacks against Tehran to divide Iran into several states distributed among their various ethnicities. This would create a political vacuum in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, especially in light of the current political and security instability in Turkey, the growing popular and opposition discontent with Turkish President Erdogan, and the strained relationship with many Turkish state institutions and political forces, pending the results of the Turkish elections in 2028.
China also links Israel’s current military strikes on Iran with the new trade route from the UAE and Israel to India and then Europe via the Israeli Ben Gurion Port. This project was agreed upon at the G7 summit in New Delhi in 2023. It undermines the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and China’s New Silk Road Initiative and negates the importance of the Egyptian Suez Canal by exchanging roles between New Delhi and Tel Aviv. It will make Tel Aviv, which is essentially an occupying state, the main controller of global maritime navigation routes, maritime transport, and logistics via the “Hebrew Ben Gurion Port.” This will subsequently work to sabotage the BRICS alliance and coalition led by China and Russia from within, which will give a strong boost to the Indian economy to surpass the Chinese economy, while at the same time preventing China from surpassing the United States’ leadership of the world. This is what China is wary of and fears after taking practical steps to achieve it on the ground following actual Israeli military attacks on Tehran with Washington’s assistance and support, despite American denials.
Based on the previous analysis, China’s support for the Iranian viewpoint in this context came from Tehran exercising its legal and legitimate right to respond to the Israeli strikes. Responding to this Israeli aggression against Iranian national sovereignty is Iran’s legal and legitimate right to defend itself against any attack or violation of its territorial sovereignty, based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. China fully supports Iran’s defense with all its capabilities in the face of any violation of its national sovereignty.
