China's Wang Yi says attacks on Iran 'unacceptable', urges ceasefire and talks

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 1 (Reuters) – China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday that attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran during U.S.-Iran negotiations were “unacceptable”, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Wang said the “blatant killing of a sovereign leader” and the incitement of regime change were unacceptable, after Iran reported the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Saturday’s barrage.

China is calling for an immediate cessation of military action, a return to dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible, and joint opposition to unilateral actions, the minister said.

The United States and Israel launched their attacks early on Saturday, targeting Iran’s military capability.

China’s ministry on Saturday expressed concern over the strikes and called for an immediate ceasefire, urging all sides to avoid escalation and to resume dialogue and negotiation. It said Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity should be respected.

On Sunday, China’s embassy in Israel issued a notice advising Chinese citizens in Israel to evacuate to safer areas within the country as soon as possible or to leave for Egypt via the Taba border crossing.

China’s foreign ministry on Sunday also urged Chinese citizens in Iran to leave “as soon as possible”, listing four land routes to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Iraq.

In a commentary on Sunday, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency criticised the attack, calling it “brazen aggression against a sovereign nation” and “power politics and hegemony”.

Xinhua said Washington’s use of military coercion was a “flagrant violation” of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and a departure from “fundamental norms of international relations”.

Separately, Hong Kong-based airline operator Cathay Group on Saturday suspended operations in the Middle East, affecting passenger flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh as well as freighter services through Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, Cathay, the parent of Cathay Pacific Airways, said in a statement.

It said it is re-routing flights that typically pass over the affected area.

The conflict has caused widespread flight disruptions and cancellations.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom and Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Christopher Cushing, Christian Schmollinger and Hugh Lawson)