Last year it was given full membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, a Eurasian security and economic club dominated by China and Russia. In January Iran was admitted to BRICS, another group that China and Russia are trying to nurture as a bastion of West-sceptics.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on all parties involved in tensions between Israel and Iran on Monday to exercise caution and avoid escalating the situation.

Iran exports nearly half of its oil production and uses the rest for its own domestic needs. The sliver of Iran’s oil exports that China does not purchase is shipped mainly as economic assistance or barter to two nearly bankrupt allies, Syria and Venezuela, that have little money to pay for fuel.

The death toll from Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza has surpassed 41,000, according to Gaza's health authorities. Oxfam, a confederation of nongovernmental organizations, reported Monday that more women and children had died in the airstrikes than during any other conflict in the past two decades.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated Beijing’s stance on the Gaza conflict, calling for an immediate, comprehensive, and permanent ceasefire.

Crude benchmarks slumped on Tuesday as traders fretted about weak Chinese demand and weighed up a report saying that Israel won't attack Iranian oil targets.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Wang Yi that his country didn’t want to see the already existing regional conflict expand, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.