As the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict enters a dangerous new phase, the contradictions in American diplomacy have never been more glaring. In Vienna, the US talks of restraint and disarmament; but behind closed doors, it hands Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a blank cheque. Even as Washington publicly denies involvement in Israel’s sweeping aerial campaign, its actions suggest a different story, a strategic complicity clocked in diplomatic ambiguity.

In the early hours of, June 13, Israel launched an assault on Iranian military, nuclear, and command sites. Among the targets were top-ranking Iranian military leaders and top tier of Iran’s nuclear scientists. Iran’s response was a barrage of long-range Emad, Ghadr-1, and Haj Qassem missiles, which penetrated Israel’s celebrated Iron Dome, reaching deep into Haifa’s industrial zones, and even reportedly damaging a Mossad outpost in Tel Aviv.

Yet, while missiles rained down, the United States (US) quietly armed one side.

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Reports confirm the US administration authorized the delivery of 300 Hellfire missiles to Israel just days before the strike. This was not an act of restraint. This was deliberate escalation. The fact that the US air defense system assisted in intercepting incoming Iranian missiles, while Washington posed as a neutral actor, is a testament to the double game. Axios and the Middle East both reveal that Israel’s actions were coordinated with the US, despite public statements to the contrary.

The early departure of US President Donald Trump from the G7 summit in Canada on June 16 further stripped away any illusion of neutrality, increasingly dismissive of traditional diplomacy. On his way back from the G7 summit in Canada, he remarked that he was “not too much in the mood to negotiate with Iran.” The tone was clear: frustration was giving way to escalation, and the window for de-escalation was fast closing.

Analysts say his exit was strategic, timed not to avoid war, but to apply pressure. The US is not a neutral mediator in the Middle East, rather it is seen as a participant wrapped in plausible deniability, weaponizing diplomacy while supplying bombs to the instigator (Israel).

All of  camouflaged US support for Israel was fully laid bare in the small hours of  June 23 Teheran time after the US president ordered to strike Iran’s three atomic energy sites with 14 GBU-57A/B MOP or Massive Ordnance Penetrator of over 30,000 pounds. The so-called military operation “Midnight Hammer” of the US, long schemed ahead and well executed with more than 120 aircraft, illegally breaching another UN member’s sovereignty and directly violating international law on sovereign security and nuclear safety. While it is Israeli aggression against Iran that disrupted Iran-US diplomatic talks originally scheduled for June 15, it is the US attacks in violation of UN principle and international law that has taught Iranians not to trust Washington in talks.

In sharp contrast, China has positioned itself with quiet pragmatism and strategic foresight. Beijing’s approach has been consistent: urge restraint, protect sovereignty, and promote dialogue. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held separate calls with his Iranian and Israeli counterparts, offering to “play a constructive role” and calling for an emergency session at the United Nations Security Council.

The Chinese leadership also reaffirmed that “China stands ready to assist in restoring peace and stability in the Middle East.”

This is not rhetoric.

In 2023, China brokered a surprise rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, A diplomatic feat that neither Washington nor Brussels could claim. Unlike the West, entangled in its ideological inconsistencies, Beijing views the region through the lens of energy security, trade connectivity, and long-term stability. Its 25-year strategic agreement with Iran and its centrality to South-South cooperation reinforce China’s footprint as a rising neutral powerbroker, not a partisan actor.

While the White House sees peace as a transactional tool, often used to coerce outcomes, Beijing frames peace as an enabler of shared growth. That is why, in today’s Middle East, China’s words carry weight. As tensions between Israel and neighbors grow, China is stepping forward as a potential mediator, guided by the principles of non-alignment, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence. Anchored in the “five principles of peaceful coexistence” and the vision of building a “community with a shared future for mankind,” Beijing’s diplomatic framework for the Middle East reflects a calibrated shift toward constructive multilateralism. Through its three Global Initiatives for Development, Security and Civilization, China’s engagement in the region has yielded quiet measurable outcomes advancing its strategic interests while simultaneously promoting regional stability.

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At the heart of this approach is a model that resists Cold War binaries: China deepens trade and infrastructure ties under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), while maintaining a clear refusal to form exclusive alliances or rival blocs. Beijing engages with all sides without drawing ideological lines, refrains from carving spheres of influence, and has actively supported regional and internal reconciliation efforts, whether between rival states or fractured societies. Moreover, China positions itself as a defender of non-interference, urging respect for sovereignty, international norms, and fairness in global governance.

But this version is not without friction. The primary challenge to China’s Middle East diplomacy comes from the United States, whose policy in the region remains rooted in zero-sum logic and Cold War reflexes. Washington’s expansion of the Abraham Accords, the revival of a potential Middle East NATO, and the launch of the Indian-Middle East-Europe economic corridor (IMEC) are not just strategic moves; they are, in Beijing’s eye, calculated efforts to contain China’s influence. Yet, despite these efforts, the US’s unwavering alignment with Israel and its credibility deficit across much of the Global South continue to blunt its ability to counter Beijing’s peace-driven posture.

In the evolving landscape, China’s message of connectivity, inclusivity, and multipolarity resonates where coercion no longer does.

The author is a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.