China has called the assassination of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Larijani, and the Israeli policy of eliminating its other leadership unacceptable. It also reiterated that an immediate end to the war in West Asia is necessary to “prevent the region from plunging into chaos.”

China denounced Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s statement, authorizing the country’s military to carry out more such assassinations, as “shocking”.

Katz, while announcing the assassination of Larijani and later Iran’s intelligence chief Esmail Khatib on Wednesday, claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized the military to target “any senior Iranian official for whom the intelligence and operational circle has been closed, without the need of additional approval.”

The “killing of Iranian leaders and attacks on civilian targets are by no means acceptable,” said Lin Jian, official spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to a question during a regular press conference on Thursday, March 19.

Larijani’s assassination was confirmed by Iran on Tuesday. Iran claimed he was killed in a US-Israeli airstrike while visiting his daughter’s home in one of the suburbs of Tehran a day earlier. Several other people, including Larijani’s son, were also killed in the attack.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other top officials have been killed in US-Israeli attacks on the country, which began on February 28.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) also announced on Friday the assassination of its spokesperson, Ali Mohammad Naeini, in US-Israeli attacks on Thursday.

The targeting of top leadership is part of US-Israeli war objectives to facilitate a “regime change” in the country.

However, Iran has asserted that no number of killings of top leadership can destabilize its government as it has deep popular roots.

China had condemned the assassination of Khamenei earlier, calling it a “grave violation of Iran’s sovereignty and security.”

On Thursday, Jian also underlined that Chinese Special Envoy Zhai Jun had visited various Arab and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries earlier this week and met with the leadership there in his country’s larger efforts to end the war and establish stability in the region.

Iran says allowing US to use bases is participation in aggression

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned his UK counterpart, Yvette Cooper, that allowing the US to use his country’s military bases would be considered participation in the aggression against Iran.

In a phone conversation with Cooper, Araghchi also condemned the UK and other European countries for their “negative and biased approach” towards the illegal US-Israeli aggression against Iran.

Iran has retaliated against many US military bases in the region that it says are used for launching attacks against it.

Most of the European countries have chosen to condemn Iran, demanding it end its retaliations, completely ignoring the US-Israeli aggression.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake claimed on Friday that his government denied US requests to land two of its warplanes in Colombo earlier this month.

“They wanted to bring in two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles from a base in Djibouti [Africa] to the Mattala international airport and we said no,” PTI reported Dissanayake saying.

He also claimed his country wants to maintain “neutrality” in the ongoing US-Israel war against Iran.

Sri Lanka played a crucial role in rescuing over 40 people on board the Iranian ship Dena when it was attacked and sunk in the Indian Ocean by the US navy on March 4.

At least 84 Iranian marines were killed in the attack on the ship, which was thousands of miles away from the active war front and was on its way home after participating in a naval ceremony in India.

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