Foreign
Xi, Putin signal united front against US in Beijing talks
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin have signalled a united front against Washington during a summit in Beijing, warning against a global return to the “law of the jungle”.
In a joint statement, China and Russia took aim at US President Donald Trump’s plans for a $175bn “Golden Dome” defence system, which would create a new missile field in the Midwest.
The duo also criticised the expiry of the last US-Russia arms control treaty, which fell to the wayside in February when Trump failed to respond to Moscow’s proposal to extend it by a year.
Wednesday’s summit – which came a week after Xi hosted Trump in Beijing – kicked off with fanfare in the Chinese capital, complete with a red carpet and a military band playing both the Chinese and Russian national anthems.
In their opening remarks, the leaders emphasised strengthening ties and cooperation between Russia and China amid an increasingly fractured world order.
“Even against the backdrop of unfavourable external factors, our interaction and economic cooperation demonstrate strong momentum,” Russian media reported Putin telling Xi.
Xi meanwhile lauded the “unyielding relationship” between China and Russia.
“We have been able to continuously deepen our political mutual trust and strategic coordination with a resilience that remains unyielding despite trials and tribulations,” Xi said.
The Chinese leader also addressed the United States-Israeli war on Iran, telling his Russian counterpart that further conflict was “inadvisable” and a ceasefire was necessary.
“A comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency, resuming hostilities is even more inadvisable and maintaining negotiations is particularly important,” Xi said.
A separate joint statement advised that “there is a danger of fragmentation of the international community and a return to the ‘law of the jungle’”.
“Attempts by a number of states to unilaterally manage global affairs, impose their interests on the entire world, and limit the sovereign development of other countries, in the spirit of the colonial era, have failed,” the statement added.
Energy talks
Among the chief topics of discussion was the energy sector, which Putin called the “driving force of economic cooperation” in Russian-Chinese relations.
China asserted itself as a major buyer of Russian oil and trading partner after Western countries largely cut economic ties with Moscow in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said that while the two leaders planned to sign some 40 agreements covering everything from the economy and tourism to education, energy security remained Putin’s priority.
“Since the war in Ukraine, any gas sales that were previously heading to Europe, that is all dried up, and Russia is in desperate need of revenue to replace that,” she said.
The talks did not lead to a new consensus on a long-discussed gas pipeline known as Power of Siberia 2, however.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that the two sides had reached a “basic understanding” on the pipeline, including its route, but that there was no “clear timeline” for a buildout.
Xi said that cooperation in energy and resource connectivity should be the “ballast stone” between the two countries, but did not mention the pipeline.
‘Sovereign foreign policy’
Although they received the same red-carpet welcome ceremony, Putin’s visit has so far contrasted sharply with Trump’s trip last week
The Russian president is marking 25 years of the Sino-Russian friendship and has visited China dozens of times, meeting with Xi on more than 40 other occasions.
“So this visit will really be about deepening existing coordination and cooperation,” Al Jazeera’s Yu said.
Putin pledged on Wednesday that Russia and China would pursue an “independent and sovereign” foreign policy programme together to play a “stabilising role on the global stage”.
Xi, for his part, said Beijing and Moscow had deepened “political mutual trust and strategic cooperation” in a world that is “increasingly chaotic” and where “hegemony is overwhelming”.
The comments made it clear that “Beijing and Moscow share a depth of established trust that simply does not exist between China and the US”, Yu said.
At the same time, “Xi is calling for a more multipolar world, where the US has less power and influence”, she added.
Putin is being accompanied by a large delegation of Russian businesspeople and government leaders.
In a video address released before meeting Xi, Putin said Russia and China were prepared to cooperate with each other on the “core interests of the two countries, including the protection of sovereignty and national unity”.
“We are not aligning against anyone, but working for the cause of peace and universal prosperity,” Putin said.
Iranian airlines are facing mounting international restrictions after new US sanctions disrupted flights to several neighbouring countries, while fresh Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia sent global oil prices sharply higher.
The United Arab Emirates on Thursday suspended all flights operated by Iranian airlines until further notice, citing the impact of new US sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector. Oman also moved to restrict Iranian flights, while services to destinations including Georgia, Azerbaijan and Baghdad were reported to have been disrupted.
The measures followed a September 23 deadline set by Washington under which companies and service providers around the world could face sanctions for continuing to do business with Iranian airlines.
The US campaign is aimed at extending sanctions pressure beyond Iran by targeting companies in third countries that continue providing services to Iranian carriers.
Iran’s aviation network has already been affected, although international flights have not been completely halted. Flight-tracking data and airport schedules showed Iranian carriers continuing to operate some routes, including services to countries such as China, Afghanistan and Turkey.
Iran has reacted angrily to the restrictions, warning that countries cooperating with the US campaign could face consequences.
A senior Iranian official threatened that airports in countries blocking Iranian flights could eventually become “unusable”, escalating concerns over the potential impact of the sanctions on regional air travel.
Oil prices surge after Saudi missile attacks
The aviation restrictions came as escalating military tensions in the region continued to unsettle global energy markets.
Oil prices jumped on Thursday after Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement launched missile and drone attacks against targets in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi authorities said their air defences intercepted six ballistic missiles fired towards Taif and Yanbu, two cities in western Saudi Arabia. The Houthis separately claimed attacks on targets in Riyadh and facilities belonging to Saudi Aramco in Yanbu.
The attacks renewed concerns about possible disruptions to Saudi oil exports and major shipping routes in the region, particularly because Yanbu is an important Red Sea outlet for Saudi crude.
Brent crude futures settled at $106.60 per barrel, up $3.52, or 3.4 per cent, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained $2.45, or 2.7 per cent, to close at $94.61.
Both benchmarks had risen by about five per cent at their session highs before retreating as reports emerged of possible diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran.
Strait of Hormuz remains key to oil markets
The possibility of negotiations between the US and Iran also helped limit the rise in crude prices.
Reports indicated that Washington and Tehran were exploring a possible phased arrangement that could involve reopening the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for a relaxation of some US economic restrictions.
The waterway is one of the world’s most important oil transit routes, making any prolonged disruption a major concern for global energy markets.
Saudi Arabia has also been relying on its East-West pipeline to move crude towards the Red Sea as disruptions affect traditional Gulf shipping routes.
The latest developments have therefore placed oil markets under competing pressures: further military escalation around energy infrastructure and shipping routes could increase supply fears, while progress in US-Iran diplomacy and improved access through the Strait of Hormuz could ease those concerns.
For Iran, meanwhile, the new US measures threaten to further isolate its aviation industry and reduce the country’s already limited international air connections.
Dozens of envoys from across the world walked out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the UN on Thursday in protest at the Israeli leader.
Delegates jeered and booed, while Netanyahu’s own team stood and applauded, and the speaker of the session shouted for order.
“If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,” Netanyahu said.
Some attendees and delegation members walk out as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 24, 2026. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
The hall, sparsely filled earlier in the session, gradually filled up before Netanyahu’s speech.
The Palestinian delegation had called in a memo for other missions to join their own act of protest.
Netanyahu called the Israeli youths who target Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank “juvenile delinquents” during a speech Thursday to the United Nations.
“What (the media) cover is a handful of young juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who go or throw stones, who chop down olive trees,” Netanyahu said.
“I can’t stand that. I won’t stand for vigilantism.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York on September 24, 2026. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
He called Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant” during a speech at the UN on Thursday, accusing Ankara of harboring Hamas militant leaders.
“The latest country to become a super spreader of antisemitic lies (is Turkey)… Erdogan is a tyrant. He also hosts the Hamas terror chiefs,” he said.
The Prime Minister also claimed that “many Jews” no longer feel safe in New York since leftist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s election.
“Since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York,” he said.
“You falsely, repeatedly accuse Israel of genocide.”
AFP
An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has warned that Tehran could expand the ongoing Middle East conflict to the Indian Ocean if the United States launches further attacks.
Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior adviser to the Iranian leader, issued the warning on Thursday in a video released by Iran’s Fars news agency.
“Since the conflict has spread from the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea, it is possible that, in response to more war, the front will expand even further, reaching the Indian Ocean and perhaps beyond,” Safavi said.
The warning comes amid heightened tensions around strategic waterways in the region.
Yemen’s Houthis, who are fighting Saudi-backed government forces, recently took control of the Red Sea coastline, strengthening their hold around the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects Asia and Europe through the Suez Canal.
Iran has long provided military support to the Houthis but has denied any direct involvement in the Yemen conflict.
The Islamic Republic has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, off its southern coast, in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that triggered the current Middle East war at the end of February.
Iran and the United States are now contesting control of the strategic waterway, through which a substantial portion of the world’s oil and gas supplies passed before the conflict began.
Iranian officials had previously warned that the geographic scope of the conflict could be widened if US strikes against Tehran resumed.
However, Thursday’s statement is the first time an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader has explicitly mentioned the Indian Ocean as a potential new theatre of the conflict.
The Indian Ocean is home to the strategic US-British military base at Diego Garcia, located nearly 4,000 kilometres from Iran.
Meanwhile, Iranian and US officials held talks in New York this week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly as part of efforts to bring the conflict to an end.
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