China FM tells Israel counterpart Beijing opposes strikes on Iran

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Israeli counterpart that Beijing was opposed to military strikes on Iran in a phone call on Tuesday, state media reported.

The war in the Middle East started over the weekend with US and Israeli strikes that killed the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and has since spread across the wider region.

Beijing, a close partner of Tehran, has called for a ceasefire and condemned Khamenei's killing as a "serious violation".

Speaking to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Wang stayed clear of outright condemnation and said China advocated resolving issues through "dialogue and consultation", according to state news agency Xinhua.

"The recent Iran-US negotiations were making obvious progress... Regrettably, this process has been interrupted by gunfire," Wang said.

Reiterating Beijing's opposition to the US-Israeli military strikes, Wang said: "Force cannot truly solve problems -- instead, it will only bring new problems and severe after-effects."

"China calls for an immediate halt to military operations to prevent the conflict from further spreading and getting out of control," he added.