In phone call, Xi and Putin 'strongly condemn' Israeli strikes on Iran; call for immediate ceasefire
Beijing/Moscow, Jun 19 (PTI): Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday strongly condemned Israeli strikes on Iran and called for an immediate ceasefire, "especially" by Israel, and an end to attacks on civilians.
In a phone call, Xi discussed the Israel-Iran conflict with Putin and said a ceasefire is an urgent priority in settling the conflict in West Asia, and the use of force is not the right way to resolve international disputes.
This was Xi's first comment on the current conflict in the region, amid US President Donald Trump's warning to Iran and Israel's threat to target Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Presidents Putin and Xi "in their hour-long phone call have agreed to issue orders to their relevant agencies to share information on Iran,” Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said in Moscow.
He said both leaders hold a similar stance and "strongly condemn Israel's actions that violate the UN Charter and other norms of international law".
During the telephonic conversation, Xi urged the conflicting parties, especially Israel, to cease fire as soon as possible, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry press release issued in Beijing.
Xi said that protecting civilians' safety is the top priority, calling on the conflicting parties to strictly follow international law, and resolutely avoid harming innocent civilians.
Dialogue and negotiation are the fundamental way out, he said, calling on the international community, particularly major countries that have a special influence on the parties to the conflict, to make efforts to promote the cooling of the situation, rather than the opposite. The UN Security Council should play a greater role in this regard.
China stands ready to continue to strengthen communication and coordination with all parties, pool their efforts, and uphold justice, so as to play a constructive role in restoring peace in the Middle East, Xi said.
Both Xi and Putin are close friends and allies. Together China and Russia are also close allies of Iran.
Both sides have strongly condemned Israeli attacks on Iran, especially targeting Iran’s nuclear sites, but so far refrained from taking any action to defend Iran.
Trump, in a social media post on Wednesday, called for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” as the conflict continues to escalate. He even threatened to kill the Iranian leader, saying that the US knows where he is hiding.
The Chinese press release said that during the phone call, Putin briefed Xi on Russia’s views on the current situation in the Middle East, saying that Israel's attack on Iran's nuclear facilities is “very dangerous”.
Escalation of the conflict is not in the interests of any party, and the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, Putin said.
He also said both parties to the conflict should guarantee the safety of citizens of third countries.
The current situation is still developing rapidly, and Russia is willing to maintain close communication with China, jointly make positive efforts to cool down the situation and maintain regional peace and stability, he said.
Xi expounded China's principled position and said that the current situation in the Middle East is very critical, which once again proves that the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change.
If the conflict escalates further, not only will the conflicting parties suffer greater losses, but regional countries will also suffer greatly, he said.
On the bilateral front, both Xi and Putin highly appreciated the political mutual trust and high-level strategic cooperation between China and Russia.
They agreed to maintain close high-level exchanges, advance cooperation in various fields and promote the in-depth development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the Chinese press release said.
Israel launched Operation Rising Lion last week, targeting Iran's nuclear, missile and military infrastructure. Iran later launched retaliatory strikes on Israel.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
