Iran’s leaders are discovering they’re on their own against the US and Israel, without the network of proxies and allies that allowed them to project power in the Middle East and beyond.As the Islamic Republic confronts its most perilous moment in decades following the bombing of its nuclear facilities ordered by US President Donald Trump,

China and Russia positioning themselves as voices of reason, calling for de-escalation of a conflict the United States is contemplating on entering — these are the optics Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin sought to project during a phone call on Thursday.

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

The Chinese leader said his country opposes "any act that infringes upon the sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of other countries."

Footage of two nighttime explosions in the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin in 2015 has been falsely described by social media users as showing an Iranian strike on the port of Haifa, Israel, during aerial battles between the two regional rivals.