Chinese companies in 15 key industrial sectors received vastly more state support than their international competitors between 2005 and 2024, according to an OECD report released on Monday.

The 15 sectors received US$108 billion in 2024 alone, according to data compiled by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in its Manufacturing Groups and Industrial Corporations (MAGIC) database.

Between 2005 and 2024, it added, “Chinese firms received on average three to eight times more government support than firms based in the OECD, a conservative estimate.”

“These subsidies were also considerably higher than the support received by firms based in non-OECD economies such as Brazil, India and Indonesia.”

The Paris-based organisation of 38 member countries said its “conservative” estimate was based on disclosures by the biggest companies in the 15 sectors, which underpin entire segments of the global economy.

It considers direct subsidies, tax breaks and favourable loans from banks and public financial institutions — at times below their base lending rates — to be public support.

“For Chinese firms, almost 60 percent of their global market share gains can be explained by the subsidies they received,” the OECD said.

Chinese firms have carved out huge market shares over 20 years in sectors such as solar panels, shipbuilding and steel, not because they are better than their US or European competitors but because of their unparalleled state support, it added.

Effect of subsidies

With subsidies, they have more financial leeway to invest in new production sites, more time to reach profitability and greater support against economic headwinds, according to the report.

This has led to overcapacity in some sectors, pushing down global prices to the detriment of other international players.

“Just like doping in sports, the risk is that subsidies help less productive players win unfairly at the expense of better, more innovative and more efficient ones,” the OECD’s Secretary-General Mathias Cormann told a press conference.

“Subsidies increased market share but that did not lead to significant gains in productivity or profitability,” Cormann added.

“Firms won market share not by being more efficient or more innovative but by being more heavily subsidised.”

The OECD looked at aerospace and defence, aluminium, car manufacturing, cement, chemicals, fertilisers, glass and ceramics, heavy machinery, semiconductors, shipbuilding, photovoltaic panels, steel, telecommunications equipment, rolling stock, and wind turbines.

Worldwide state support in these sectors reached its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis in 2023-24, amounting on average to 1.3 percent of companies’ revenues in 2024.

The OECD noted that the peak observed in 2009 coincided with a severe global recession, which was not the case in 2023-24.

That “indicates the recent increase in industrial subsidies to be more structural”, it added.

Fast bowler Nathan Ellis took a career best four-wicket haul as an understrength Australia shocked Pakistan by 41 runs in the second one-day international in Lahore on Tuesday, levelling the three-match series 1-1.

Australia’s total of 231-9 in 50 overs had fighting half centuries from Josh Inglis and Cameron Green before Ellis grabbed 4-33 to leave Pakistan 190 all out in 44 overs.

Pakistan won the first match by five wickets in Rawalpindi which now sets up a series-deciding match, also in Lahore on Thursday.

With a host of top ODI players including skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, Australia’s second string staged a remarkable comeback, countering Pakistan’s spin and batting with confidence.

All rounder Shadab Khan played a lone hand for the home team with a resolute 104-ball 71 and was the last man out, stumped off a spinner Tanveer Sangha’s wide ball for Australian victory.

Ghazi Ghori made 37 with five boundaries.

Shadab hit three sixes and a boundary and repaired Pakistan’s faltering position of 6-78 with a 59-run stand with Arafat Minhas (33) and another 31 with Shaheen Shah Afridi (11).

But Ellis – whose previous best of 2-13 was against India in 2023 – dismissed Minhas leg-before to give Australia the gateway for victory.

Part-time spinner Matthew Short also took a career best 3-36.

Ellis gave Australia an ideal start by dismissing Maaz Sadaqat off the third ball of the innings for nought before getting the prized wicket of Babar Azam for 16.

Earlier, Green knocked a polished 92-ball 53 while Inglis scored a 74-ball 51 after the visitors were put in to bat by Pakistan.

The Green-Inglis duo lifted Australia from 51-3 with a sedate 51-run stand after Pakistan attacked with the spin as early as from the fifth over.

But it was pacer Shaheen who bowled opener Alex Carey with the first ball of the match before spinners Abrar Ahmed and Minhas struck once each, removing Short (15) and Marnus Labuschagne for five respectively.

Inglis hit five boundaries in his fifth ODI fifty before he was bowled by Minhas in the 27th over.

Minhas, who took five wickets on debut in Rawalpindi on Saturday, finished with 2-27.

Green added another invaluable 65 runs for the fifth wicket with Matthew Renshaw (43) before Abrar removed Green to push the visitors hard.

Green’s third ODI half century had a single boundary and two sixes.

Oliver Peake ensured Australia post a fighting total with a brisk 32-ball 31 inclusive of two sixes and a boundary.

Shaheen was the best home bowler with 3-36.

Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl against Australia at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

Conditions in Lahore have historically favoured batsmen. The venue has produced several high-scoring encounters in recent years, including Australia’s successful chase of 352 against England during last year’s Champions Trophy and Pakistan’s pursuit of 349 against Australia in 2022.

The ex-wife of a nephew of Dubai’s ruler has been arrested following a long-running custody battle, prosecutors in the UAE said on Friday.

Zeynab Javadli was detained after her former husband, Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, accused her of abducting their three children.

“Dubai Public Prosecution confirms that Ms. Zeynab Javadli has been taken into custody, following a complaint filed by the father of her three children alleging that she abducted the children during a court-approved visitation session,” said a statement sent to AFP.

“The matter remains under investigation and is subject to ongoing legal proceedings.”

Since late 2025 Javadli, a former international gymnast from Azerbaijan, has posted several Instagram posts with her daughters, in which she pleads for help and accuses her ex-husband of taking them away.

But a lawyer for Sheikh Saeed, a nephew of Dubai’s ruler and United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said he was awarded custody of the three girls in 2022.

The decision was upheld on appeal and later confirmed by the Dubai Court of Cassation, Sheikh Saeed’s lawyer Mahmood Hussain said in a statement sent to AFP.

“Despite these rulings, Ms. Javadli abducted the three children during a court-approved temporary visitation session in 2025,” the statement said.

“She subsequently published a series of videos on social media containing defamatory allegations against the children’s father, which exposed the children to public scrutiny and emotional strain.

“Consequently, the father, my client, was compelled to file a legal complaint against Ms. Javadli for abducting the children.”

David Haigh, Javadli’s British-based human rights lawyer, said the children, the eldest of whom is nine, had lived with their mother “their entire lives”.

He said Sheikh Mohammed “personally intervened” in 2022 to give her full custody, without providing evidence. The alleged abduction took place in November, he added, questioning why she was only arrested months later.

“We call upon the UAE authorities to grant Zeynab immediate access to legal representation. We call upon the Azerbaijani government to secure immediate consular access,” Haigh said in a statement.

“Above all, we are calling on the UAE to release Zeynab immediately to her home in Dubai and to reunite her with her children,” he added.

According to reports, the couple divorced in 2019 and in 2022 Javadli appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council to intervene in the custody dispute.

Israel and Iran traded fire on Monday, seriously testing a fragile truce and threatening hopes for a deal to end the Middle East war.

The new attacks, including a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex, came hours after US President Donald Trump called on Israel to refrain from retaliating against Tehran’s missiles.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tehran retaliated for the strike on its petrochemical complex by attacking similar industrial targets in Israel’s Haifa.

AFP journalists in Jerusalem heard a series of explosions as they took shelter and the Israeli army said it worked to intercept a new wave of Iranian missiles.

The retaliation followed Israel saying it fired on western and central Iran, tit-for-tat action against Tehran’s strikes on Sunday of 11 missiles, all of which were intercepted, with no casualties.

Israel’s military and Iranian local media said Monday that Israel struck a petrochemical company in Mahshahr in southwestern Iran.

Trump had sought to rein in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Israel accused Tehran of making a “grave mistake”.

Trump has also said new strikes by Israel and Iran would not affect his administration’s peace talks with Tehran, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “doesn’t call the shots.”

He has leaned on Israel to stop its attacks in Lebanon to allow room for a deal to end the wider war with Iran, including rebuking Netanyahu with obscenities in a phone call last week.

However, earlier on Sunday, Israel launched strikes in the Beirut area for the first time since the US announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week.

Iran fired a salvo of missiles at Israeli targets in retaliation, putting US-Iran peace talks at risk. But Trump insisted that an agreement to end the wider war remained well within reach.

“It’s not going to have any impact on the deal,” Trump told the Financial Times. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t call the shots.”

A few hours later, Israel’s defence forces said they had struck Iranian military targets.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Israel used air-launched ballistic missiles in its attacks.

“Everyone has had enough of this maniacal Iranian regime,” Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said on X, adding that Iran had fired 11 ballistic missiles at Israel. “No self-respecting country in the world would tolerate such an attack, and neither will Israel,” he said, adding that Israel was targeting Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launch sites and infrastructure facilities unrelated to the energy sector.

The latest hostilities drove oil prices up more than three per cent in early trading on Monday, with benchmark Brent futures back above $96 a barrel.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted Ramat David air base, near Nazareth. The Israeli military said it identified missiles launched from Iran and its defence systems had intercepted them. As air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, according to a Reuters witness, the Israeli military added it had identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward its territory with aerial defence systems activated to intercept the threat.

The attack is also the first from Yemen on Israel since the April 8 truce.

Trump urges Netanyahu

Trump spoke with Netanyahu by telephone from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, for a little less than half an hour on Sunday, an Israeli official said, without giving details.

The White House and the Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump told Netanyahu during the call to refrain from further strikes because “we are close to doing something good in terms of a deal,” according to a US official quoted by Axios.

In a separate interview with Fox News, Trump said: “What I would suggest to Iran: You’ve shot your missiles, that’s enough, get back to the table and make a deal.”

Since the start of the talks, Israel has kept up attacks in Lebanon in a conflict with Hezbollah that Israeli officials insist should be treated separately from any Iran ceasefire. Tehran has long said any peace deal with the US would depend on a ceasefire also holding in Lebanon, which Israel invaded in March.

Iran’s chief peace negotiator, Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said US bases and Israeli assets were legitimate targets because of hostile acts, including the “violation of agreements over Lebanon.”

Before Sunday, Iran had not attacked Israel since a ceasefire in the wider war started in April, although Hezbollah had done so.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington and Tehran were close to an agreement on ending the war.

“We’re very close to a deal, or I’m going to blow the hell out of them,” Trump told NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’ in a recorded interview that aired on Sunday to mark 100 days of the conflict.

Trump wants no attacks in Lebanon

Israel has never halted its Lebanon campaign, which has killed thousands of people and driven hundreds of thousands more from their homes.

Hezbollah, which kept out of truce talks, has also continued its attacks and says it will not give up its weapons unless Israel halts its attacks and withdraws from Lebanon.

Netanyahu said Israel’s Sunday strikes on Beirut’s southern outskirts, a district known as Dahiyeh and a longtime Hezbollah stronghold, were ordered in response to Hezbollah firing toward Israel.

The wider war has been stalled since the US and Israel paused attacks on Iran in early April, with Tehran blocking most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the main transit route for a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas.

Washington has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.

Though Washington and Tehran have said they are close to a preliminary deal to reopen the strait, they have repeatedly traded strikes, with escalations in recent days that included attacks on nearby Arab states hosting US bases.

Trump has said any agreement to end the war must prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and he is under pressure to deliver terms tougher than those agreed in 2015 under then-President Barack Obama in a deal Trump later repudiated.

Tehran’s demands include the lifting of US and international sanctions, recognition of its sway over the strait and the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets.

By Joy Chiang

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Tuesday the democratic island has the “right to engage with the world”, after he returned from a trip to Africa that Taipei has accused Beijing of trying to derail.

Taiwan said China applied “intense pressure” to Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar to revoke overflight permits for Lai’s original trip to Eswatini — Taipei’s only ally in Africa — which had been scheduled for April 22-26.

China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and opposes the self-governed island’s participation in international organisations and exchanges with other countries.

“Taiwanese people are people of the world; Taiwanese people have the right to engage with the world,” Lai told reporters at Taipei’s international airport after his flight home on the Eswatini king’s plane.

Lai flew on the king’s aircraft to Eswatini on Saturday.

“We will not shrink back because of suppression,” Lai said, flanked by Eswatini Deputy Prime Minister Thulisile Dladla, who had flown to Taiwan with him and his delegation.

“Mutual visits between heads of state should be the most ordinary thing, just like when we go out to visit friends, and are a basic right of every country.”

The United States slammed China’s “intimidation campaign” after Lai’s trip was delayed. The remarks were rejected by China’s foreign minister as “baseless accusations”.

On Saturday, China’s foreign ministry accused Lai of making a “stowaway-style escape farce” that made him “an international laughing stock”.

‘Sanctions’

Eswatini, a small enclave kingdom formerly known as Swaziland, is one of 12 countries that still recognise Taiwan. China has persuaded other nations to break diplomatic ties with the self-ruled island.

Lai had planned to visit Eswatini from April 22 to 26 for the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday.

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung went instead after Lai’s trip was postponed.

A Taiwanese security official, who requested anonymity in order to speak to the media, said previously that China had threatened “to revoke substantial debt relief granted to (Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar), halt financing and impose further economic sanctions”.

On May 1, China extended a zero-tariff policy to all African countries except Eswatini under a policy announced last year.

Lai’s last official overseas trip was in November 2024, when he visited Taiwan’s Pacific allies and transited through the US territory of Guam.

Trump’s administration reportedly denied Lai permission to transit through New York last year as part of an official trip to Latin America. Taiwan’s foreign ministry denied that he was blocked.

Taiwan has launched a website for Chinese citizens to leak intelligence, inviting those “who share the same values of democracy” to collaborate on reporting on Beijing.

China claims democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to take it, while Taipei accuses Beijing of using espionage and infiltration to weaken its defences.

Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) introduced the platform with a one-minute AI-generated video showing a Chinese civil servant witnessing colleagues being removed and investigated, “reflecting a pervasive atmosphere that everyone is on edge under China’s totalitarian regime”, it said in a statement.

An “increasing number” of people have approached agencies in Taiwan “wishing to provide various types of information”, it said.

It added the reporting channel was based on “practices adopted by intelligence agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel”.

The NSB said it would “rigorously filter”, evaluate and follow up submissions to the platform using technology.

The bureau did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for further comment on Monday.

China accused Japan’s defence minister on Monday of spreading “baseless” claims and sowing confusion, a day after he took a veiled swipe at Beijing.

Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi had pledged on Sunday to keep strengthening Japan’s military and warned China was expanding its capabilities without sufficient transparency.

His comments follow a months-long diplomatic spat between the Asian rivals, which began when Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if China attempted to seize Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing.

China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Koizumi’s comments  were “entirely baseless”.

“They appear pale and feeble in the face of a series of historical and legal facts and figures,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing.

“This Japanese official deliberately… attempts to turn the tables and sow confusion,” Lin said.

“Japan’s so-called dialogue is nothing but hypocrisy — a performance put on for appearances, devoid of any genuine sincerity,” he added.

Under Takaichi, Japan has quickened its pivot towards a more proactive defence policy, further shaking off — with US encouragement — a pacifist outlook, which has been in place since the end of World War II.

Koizumi made his comments at the annual IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, saying China’s expanding military capabilities were “a matter of serious concern for Japan”.

Tokyo would “steadily build up its defence capabilities and make continuous updates with a high degree of transparency”, including in the fields of artificial intelligence, uncrewed systems as well as cyber and space defence, he said.

Beijing has frequently rebuked Tokyo for its pivot and said following a reckless policy of “new militarism” that could destabilise the region.

Australia has secured three shipments of jet fuel from China totalling 600,000 barrels, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday, doubling the national supply.

The Middle East conflict and closure of the Strait of Hormuz have caused fuel prices to soar and left many Asia-Pacific nations facing an energy crisis.

Tourism and freight exports in the island continent are reliant on air travel, a sector heavily impacted by the climbing prices.

The jet fuel shipments are expected to arrive in June and follow talks between Albanese and Chinese Premier Li Qiang on energy security last month.

China supplied a third of Australia’s aviation fuel last year and is a major importer of Australian iron ore, coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Canberra has highlighted to Beijing that jet fuel supports the Australian resources sector, officials said.

See also: Australia foreign minister says China agrees to collaborate on jet fuel exports

Australia’s Trade Minister Don Farrell is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao in Suzhou this week on the sidelines of an APEC trade ministers meeting in the Chinese city.

Trade between Australia and China reached Au$326 billion (US$233 billion) last year, dominated by Australian commodities exports.

Farrell is expected to arrive in Tokyo on Tuesday to discuss energy security and trade.

Japan is another major buyer of Australian LNG and coal.

Australia said this month it will reserve the equivalent of 20 percent of gas exports for the domestic market to avoid supply shortfalls.

By Kang Jin-kyu

A Chinese dissident who has long been a thorn in Beijing’s side has escaped to South Korea on a rubber boat, his lawyer confirmed on Wednesday, after repeated attempts to flee China.

Dong Guangping, a former policeman who was imprisoned for his activism, was found by South Korean authorities on Monday night drifting off the country’s west coast on a 3.3-metre (11-foot) rubber boat with a 9.9-horsepower engine, according to police.

He was taken to shore for questioning on suspicion of violating immigration laws.

The man’s lawyer, Kim Joo-kwang, confirmed his identity to AFP.

Dong, 68, is known for his opposition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and his advocacy for political reform and human rights.

He was dismissed from his work as a policeman after signing a petition a decade after Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, according to US-based advocacy group Human Rights in China.

He later spent about three years in prison from 2001 for “inciting subversion of state power”, United Nations experts said, and was detained again in 2014 over Tiananmen-related activities.

Dong fled to Thailand with his family, who later resettled in Canada as refugees, but Thai authorities handed him over to Chinese police in 2015 despite his UN-recognised refugee status.

He was released from prison after completing his sentence in 2019.

But faced with constant police surveillance, harassment and a lack of access to housing, work and financial resources, he decided to flee again in an attempt to reunite with his family, according to a UN report from 2022.

Before arriving in South Korea, Dong made several failed attempts to flee China.

In 2019, he tried to swim to the Kinmen archipelago, a Taiwanese territory, but nearly drowned at sea. In 2020, he crossed into Vietnam, but was detained by Vietnamese police.

Dong’s attorney told AFP his client’s current situation is “highly likely to be a political asylum case”.

Full protection

Chinese-Canadian journalist and human rights activist Sheng Xue, who described Dong as a friend, said in a post on X Wednesday that Dong set off from Weihai, in China’s Shandong province, after “meticulous inspection and preparation”.

“Last night, I spoke with him on the phone… He hadn’t slept for over fifty hours and had been at sea for more than thirty hours,” she said.

His rubber boat was spotted by the captain of a fishing boat at 9:30 pm (1230 GMT) on Monday, about 18 kilometres (11 miles) northwest of Taean County, South Chungcheong province, who then alerted the police, according to Sheng.

The Coast Guard dispatched a patrol vessel that arrived at the scene about an hour later, and Dong was detained, she added.

South Korea has granted political asylum to a relatively small number of applicants since it began formally processing refugee claims in 1994, with an overall recognition rate in the low single digits despite tens of thousands of applications.

Critics say the low approval rate reflects strict screening and lengthy procedures, while the government maintains that decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and take security considerations into account.

Seoul’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The opposition People Power Party has called on the government to offer Dong “full protection”.

“It should take swift humanitarian measures to ensure that he can safely travel to Canada, where his family is anxiously awaiting him,” party spokesman Choo Hyun-chul said in a statement to AFP.

“This is a matter of a fundamental responsibility as a liberal democratic state.”

In August 2023, Kwon Pyong, a Chinese dissident, fled China on a jet ski to South Korea, where he was later convicted of illegal entry and given a suspended prison sentence.

Iran on Monday said it was ending its latest military operation against Israel after the first exchanges of fire between the foes since a shaky ceasefire began, but warned it could inflict a more “crushing” response.

United States President Donald Trump earlier on Monday told both Iran and key ally Israel to stop fighting, against the background of reports of an increasingly testy relationship between the US leader and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel overnight and Israel responded by targeting military sites in the Islamic republic, sparking fears the escalation could usher in a new full-scale conflict after the April 8 truce.

“Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting.’ President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the US leader wrote on his Truth Social network.

Minutes later, he added in a new post that “final negotiations” towards peace were proceeding “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.” Iran’s military command then said it was halting the operation against Israel after delivering a “painful response”.

But it warned “that should acts of aggression and hostility continue, including in southern Lebanon, much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow”.

Shortly after, Israel’s army intercepted three projectiles fired from Lebanon, according to an AFP journalist near their shared border, with the military confirming the munitions had targeted its forces operating in Lebanon’s south.

“Some of the projectiles were intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory, and an additional projectile fell near IDF soldiers. No injuries were reported,” the military said.

Tehran’s earlier strikes followed attacks by Israel against targets of the Lebanese group Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Iran had repeatedly warned it would strike Israel if the Lebanese capital was targeted.

‘People frustrated’

On Monday in Tehran, there was little sign of any return to war, with cafe terraces packed.

Traffic seemed lighter than usual for a weekday, suggesting that some people had stayed home and there were also many more people queuing at gas stations.

Maryam, 41, an accountant in Tehran, described “a sense of uncertainty and confusion”.

“You don’t know if there’s going to be a war, nor do you know if the peace agreement will last. Nothing is clear. People are frustrated,” she said.

Residents of Tel Aviv meanwhile went to shelters as sirens went off.

“I hope it will be short, but you can never know. Last time we thought it will be short and then it was a month, so I don’t know,” said Jonathan Ariel, 30.

Oil prices surged more than five per cent on worries that war could break out again, with hopes now punctured of a rapid end to the standoff that has seen shipping limited through the key Strait of Hormuz trade bottleneck.

The strikes also came at a critical moment with diplomatic efforts to end the conflict involving mediator Pakistan on a knife-edge.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei warned at a press conference in Tehran attended by AFP that diplomacy was continuing but risked being “affected” by the escalation.

As he was speaking at the foreign ministry, a huge explosion shook the building, followed by repeated explosions believed to be from air defence systems, the AFP reporter said.

Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Tehran to deliver what he said was a “special letter” to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, according to Iranian state television.

He has since travelled back to Pakistan, an official Pakistani source said on Monday.

Iranian President Masoud Pezehskian wrote on X that Tehran was still “at the negotiating table”.

‘Prepared for long-term war’

No casualties have been reported in either Israel or Iran after the exchange of fire.

The Israeli military said it struck and dismantled Iranian defence systems deployed across several areas in the country. Iran fired nearly 30 missiles towards Israel since Sunday night, an Israeli military official said.

An AFP correspondent also saw a missile fall in agricultural land in the area of Najha, in the countryside of the Syrian capital Damascus, causing a fire around the impact site but no reported human casualties.

“Material damage is minor, but the psychological impact is significant. The area is home to children, farm caretakers, livestock and solar power installations,” said Fadil Ataya, a local farmer.

A military source told the Tasnim news agency that “Iran is prepared for a long-term war with the Zionist regime and for strikes against US interests” in the region.

It also remains unclear who is leading decision-making in Tehran with Mojtaba Khamenei, said to have been wounded in a US-Israeli strike, yet to appear in public after taking over from his father Ali Khamenei who was assassinated on the first day of the war on February 28.

The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas called on both sides to “sit down to a negotiation table and agree”, adding that “the region does not need an escalation.”

Israeli strikes on Iran ‘fully coordinated’ with US, says Tehran

Iran said on Monday that the recent wave of Israeli strikes against the country was “fully coordinated” with US forces.

Tehran’s statement comes after Israel and Iran exchanged attacks for the first time since the shaky ceasefire in the Middle East war took effect on April 8, despite Trump calling for restraint.

The flare-up, which also drew in other countries in the region, saw Israel striking Iran after the latter targeted it in vengeance for an airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs. No casualties have been reported so far in either Israel or Iran.

“The direct responsibility of the United States for the actions of the Zionist regime is clear, and the consequences of escalating tensions will also fall on the United States,” Baqaei told a new briefing, according to state news agency IRNA.

“No one believes that the Zionist regime would carry out any action without prior coordination and cooperation with the United States,” Baqaei said.

“It is perfectly natural that the diplomatic process initiated to put an end to this imposed war would be affected,” the official observed.

Nonetheless, Baqaei said that Pakistan’s mediation efforts to end the war with the US were continuing even after fighting resumed with Israel.

“Diplomatic consultations are naturally continuing in all circumstances,” the spokesman said.

Baqaei further stressed that it had “been frequently repeated by us together with the Pakistani mediator that Lebanon is part and parcel of the [ceasefire] agreement”, according to Al Jazeera.

“We cannot allow the Zionist entity or the United States to undermine this part of the part of the deal,” he was quoted as saying.

“These events [of the past day] will definitely intensify suspicions. We were already exchanging messages with the American side in an atmosphere of extreme suspicion,” the Iranian official noted.

“The US’s contradictions to date — whether intentional or unintentional — have caused enough chaos in the diplomatic process. The incidents that have occurred in the past 24 hours will only fuel this chaotic situation in the diplomatic process,” he added.

Baqaei also reiterated Tehran’s stance that the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog was disregarding the realities of the conflict and held biased views.

He contended that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi was “acting with deliberate bias against Iran and the Iranian nuclear issue”, according to Al Jazeera.

Tit-for-tat strikes after Iran’s warning

Earlier on Monday, an Israeli airstrike targeted a petrochemical firm in southwestern Iran, causing partial damage to the industrial complex, Iranian officials said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tehran had retaliated against the attack by striking similar industrial targets in Israel’s Haifa.

Israel’s attacks had followed missile launches by Iran, whose military said it targeted Israel’s Ramat David Airbase with ballistic missiles in response to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and Beirut.

The statement warned that any further attacks would be met with “a broader and more severe” Iranian response.

Last night, the IRGC demanded that the Israeli army stop its attacks on Lebanon.

“We had previously warned that if the crimes in the Dahieh area of Beirut expand, we will attack targets in the occupied territories,” the IRGC’s top joint military command said.

On late Saturday night, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also shared an image on X depicting Iran and Lebanon’s national flags.

Earlier on Saturday, Israel launched strikes in the Beirut area for the first time since the US announced a truce plan for Lebanon last week.

The region has been on edge since the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran on February 28, triggering Iranian retaliation on Israel and other regional countries hosting US military sites.

A temporary ceasefire was reached on April 8, but negotiations later stalled amid disputes over its implementation and subsequent regional developments.

By AFP teams in Tehran, Dubai, Beijing and Mecca

US forces launched overnight strikes on missile sites in southern Iran and boats they said were trying to lay mines in Gulf waters, sending oil prices higher Tuesday and fuelling tension as diplomats sought a deal to end the war.

The international benchmark Brent crude jumped up by almost three percent after the US Central Command announced the new wave of bombings, and China urged both sides to respect their truce and resolve their dispute peacefully.

Iran did not immediately confirm the reported strikes, but state media reported blasts in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, and the Revolutionary Guards Corps said its forces had downed a US drone entering its airspace and fired at an F-35 fighter jet.

In a statement marking the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday, Tehran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei declared that Washington was losing its influence in the Middle East and warned Middle East countries to ensure that they no longer host bases from which the US could launch attacks.

The United States, he said in a written statement, “in addition to no longer having any safe haven in the region for aggression and the establishment of military bases, is moving further and further away from its former position with each passing day”.

Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command, said: “US forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

‘We’ll see’

He gave few details of the attacks and said only that the targets included missile launch sites and boats trying to “emplace mines.”

Despite the strikes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that a deal remained within reach.

But he remained firm on the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, the key oil and gas shipping route out of the Gulf, which Iran is seeking to control by charging fees to approve the passage of vessels.

“There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to India.

He said the strait was “going to be open one way or the other,” adding: “What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable.”

The strikes threatened a ceasefire that began on April 8 as the United States and Iran struggle to reach an accord to end a war that has rattled the global economy with a severe disruption of energy flows.

China, Washington’s great power rival and a major energy importer, expressed concern after the US strikes.

“We urge the parties concerned to fulfil their ceasefire commitments, resolve disputes through peaceful means… and promote the early restoration of peace,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.

Hopes of an accord took another blow when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush” Hezbollah in Lebanon on Monday evening. Iran has demanded that any peace accord apply to the fighting in Lebanon as well.

On Tuesday, Israel warned Lebanese civilians to evacuate the southern city of Nabatieh ahead of more planned strikes.

Nuclear fuel disposal

US President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he expected Iran to hand over its enriched uranium to the United States to be destroyed, or have it destroyed in Iran with an international witness.

The nuclear fuel “will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location”.

Taiwan’s main opposition leader said Monday she hopes to “gain deeper trust” from the United States, before departing for the country where she is expected to be grilled over her party’s stance on China and defence spending.

Kuomintang chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s trip comes two months after her “peace” visit to Beijing, where she met Chinese President Xi Jinping — the first such meeting in a decade — and weeks after US President Donald Trump’s summit with Xi in the Chinese capital.

It also comes after the KMT recently thwarted the Taiwanese government’s plan to spend nearly US$40 billion on critical weapons, including US arms and domestically produced drones.

Speaking to reporters before departing for the United States — Taiwan’s most important security backer — Cheng said she hopes her party can play a key role in regional peace efforts and “gain deeper trust from the US”.

“Only the KMT is truly serious and responsible in taking on the most important role of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Cheng told a press conference.

Cheng has rocked Taiwanese politics since her unexpected rise to the top of the party last year and drawn criticism for being too pro-China.

The KMT has long advocated closer relations with China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.

But Cheng’s cross-strait rhetoric has gone beyond the comfort zone of many people in her own party and caused unease among foreign partners, including Washington.

‘Sharper questions’

Over the next two weeks, Cheng will visit San Francisco, Boston, New York, Washington and Los Angeles. She plans to meet with US lawmakers, government officials, think tanks and supporters, according to her itinerary.

Analysts told AFP that US government officials and lawmakers are likely to interrogate Cheng on the KMT’s position on China and its decision to slash the government’s special defence budget.

While Taiwan has its own defence industry, it remains heavily reliant on the United States for weapons to deter a potential attack by China.

But there are concerns in Taipei over Washington’s commitment after Trump recently suggested arms sales to the island could be a bargaining chip with China.

Compared with her trip to China, Cheng can expect “far less pomp and far sharper questions” in the United States, said Ryan Hass, an expert on China and Taiwan at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

“Her challenge will be to persuade Washington that the KMT’s engagement with China can coexist with strong deterrence,” Hass wrote in a recent opinion piece in the Taipei Times newspaper.

Jason Hsu, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank and former KMT lawmaker, said Cheng will face “a lot of serious questioning from the administration and Congress for KMT’s leaning toward Beijing”.

The KMT and Taiwan People’s Party, which together control parliament, recently passed a US$25 billion defence spending bill limited to US weapons.

It excluded the procurement of drones made in Taiwan, which the government has said is critical for developing domestic production capacity to sustain its forces during a war.