Weeks after his country was battered by waves of Israeli strikes and the US bombed three of its prized nuclear facilities, Iran’s foreign minister came to a gathering of regional diplomats in China this week with a simple ask.

"Strengthening air defense capabilities is clearly an urgent priority for Iran at the moment," expert Hongda Fan told Newsweek.

The flow of goods in Manzhouli, China’s main border crossing with Russia, underscores increasingly close ties between the two countries, complicating China’s relationship with Europe.

Iran, Russia, and China have different ideologies, political regimes, and strategic aims. Iran’s relations with its two larger partners are wildly asymmetric. [Read: The invisible city of Tehran]

Iran, China and Russia are set to discuss the threat of sanctions and its nuclear program in a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Newsweek has reached out to the U.

“If the Middle East is unstable, the world will not be at peace,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said June 19. “If the conflict escalates further, not only will the conflicting parties suffer greater losses, but regional countries will also suffer greatly.”

Iran's sale of drones and ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine, and the selling of oil at significantly reduced prices to China did little to benefit Tehran during the critical ...

Given trade disputes, a technological power struggle and dissension over support for Russia and sanctions, European and Chinese officials have struggled to hide their disagreements ahead of the July 24 summit.

Iran and Israel came to blows, and Beijing mostly ducked. China isn’t ready to be the world’s next superpower: That’s one thing the exchange of fire between Israel and Iran in June made abundantly clear.