“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.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin made the following comments at a plenary session of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

Russia signed a strategic partnership with Iran in January and also has a relationship with Israel, although that has been strained by Moscow's war in Ukraine.