The killing of Iranian leaders and attacks on civilian targets are by no means acceptable, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday in response to a related query, Xinhua news agency reported.

Spokesperson Lin Jian made the remarks at a daily press briefing, adding China is always against the use of force in international relations.

The comments came after Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was killed in an Israeli attack.

Responding to the statement by the Israeli side that its troops have been authorized to attack and kill any Iranian official without the need of approval, Lin said China is shocked at such remarks.

Lin added that as the war rages on in the Middle East and the tense situation there continues to escalate and spill over, an early ceasefire and an end to hostilities are being widely called for by the international community.

China urges parties to the conflict to immediately stop military operations and avoid plunging the regional situation into a state where it is out of control, Lin said.

Earlier, China had offered emergency humanitarian aid to Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq due to the ongoing war in the Middle East. China also announced that it would provide $200,000 to support the parents of around 170 students killed in the shelling of an elementary school in Iran. The girls’ school in Minab, in southern Iran, was hit during the first day of U.S. and Israeli attacks on the country. Iranian authorities said the death toll stood at 168.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field was carried out by Israel, and the U.S. and Qatar were not involved in it.

Trump also said Israel would not make any ‌more attacks on Iranian facilities in South Pars unless Iran attacked Qatar, warning that the U.S. would attack those facilities if Iran acted against Doha.

“Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran. A relatively small section of the whole has been hit. The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen. Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility. NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar – In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before. I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran, but if Qatar’s LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Iran condemned the strike on South Pars, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of “uncontrollable consequences” that “could engulf the entire world,” according to Associated Press. Meanwhile, Iranian missile attacks damaged more liquefied natural gas sites in Qatar.

Iran on Thursday appeared to mock the U.S. after a WaPo report that the Pentagon has ‌asked the White House to approve a more ⁠than $200 billion request to the U.S. Congress to fund the war in ‌Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that an ‘Israel First Tax’ is about to hit the United States economy, noting that the $200 billion is the ‘tip of the iceberg’.

“We’re only three weeks into this war of choice, imposed on both Iranians and Americans. This $200b is the tip of the iceberg. Ordinary Americans can thank Benjamin Netanyahu and his lackeys in Congress for the trillion-dollar “Israel First tax” that’s about to hit U.S. economy,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X, posting the WaPo report.

The U.S. and Israel launched what they described as a pre-emptive strike against Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran was developing a nuclear weapon and posed a threat—an allegation Iran has denied. In response, Iran launched counterattacks, firing missiles and drones at Israel, as well as at U.S. assets and other targets across the Middle East.

The Pentagon has ‌asked the White House to approve a more ⁠than $200 billion request to the U.S. Congress to fund the war in ‌Iran, ⁠the Washington Post reported ⁠citing a senior administration official.

The figure would far surpass the cost of the U.S. military campaign against Iran to date and is intended to urgently expand production of critical weapons depleted since the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran started on Feb. 28, the report said.

It remains unclear how much the White House will ultimately ask Congress to approve, as some administration officials believe the Department of Defense request has little chance of passing, according to the report, which cited a senior Trump administration official speaking on condition of anonymity.

The cost of the U.S. strikes on Iran has rapidly grown, exceeding 11 billion dollars in the first week alone, the report said, citing multiple officials.

Before launching the massive attacks on Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump had proposed a $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027, a more than 50 per cent increase from the previous year.

It remains unclear how and whether the supplemental may count toward that total, said the report. 

The U.S. and Israel launched what they described as a pre-emptive strike against Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran was developing a nuclear weapon and posed a threat—an allegation Iran has denied. In response, Iran launched counterattacks, firing missiles and drones at Israel, as well as at U.S. assets and other targets across the Middle East.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is considering deploying thousands of U.S. troops to reinforce its operation in the Middle East, as the U.S. military prepares for possible next steps in its campaign against Iran, Reuters reported citing a U.S. official and three people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The deployments could help provide Trump with additional options as he weighs expanding U.S. operations, with the Iran war well into its third week.

Those options ‌include securing safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a mission that would be accomplished primarily through air and naval forces, the sources said, according to Reuters. But securing the Strait could also mean deploying U.S. troops to Iran’s shoreline, four sources told Reuters, including two U.S. officials.

The Trump administration has also discussed options to send ground forces to Iran’s Kharg Island, the hub for 90% of Iran’s oil exports, the three people familiar with the matter and three U.S. officials said, according to Reuters. One of the officials said such an operation would be very risky. Iran has the ability to reach the island with missiles and drones.

Trump administration officials have also discussed the possibility of deploying U.S. forces to secure Iran’s stocks of highly enriched uranium, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

The sources did not believe a deployment of ground forces anywhere in Iran was imminent but declined to discuss specifics of U.S. operational planning.

A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “There has been no decision to send ground troops at this time, but President Trump wisely keeps all options at his disposal.

“The president is focused on achieving all of the defined objectives of Operation Epic Fury: destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capacity, annihilate their navy, ensure their terrorist proxies cannot destabilize the region, and guarantee that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.”

The U.S. has carried out more than 7,800 strikes since launching the war on ‌February 28 ⁠and damaged or destroyed more than 120 Iranian vessels so far, according to a factsheet released by the U.S. military.

The U.S. and Israel launched what they described as a pre-emptive strike against Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran was developing a nuclear weapon and posed a threat—an allegation Iran has denied. In response, Iran launched counterattacks, firing missiles and drones at Israel, as well as at U.S. assets and other targets across the Middle East.

The U.S. detected unidentified drones above an army base in Washington where Secretary of State Marco ‌Rubio and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth live, the Washington Post reported citing three people briefed on the situation.

The drones over Fort McNair prompted officials to weigh relocating Rubio and Hegseth, the report said. However, the Rubio and Hegseth have not moved, the report added, citing a senior administration official.

The newspaper said the U.S. military was monitoring potential threats ‌more ⁠closely because of the heightened alert level over the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran.

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell declined to discuss ⁠the drones with the Washington Post.

According to the report, the officials have not determined where the drones came from.

Qatar warned Thursday that additional Iranian missile attacks damaged more liquefied natural gas sites in the country, “causing sizable fires and extensive further damage,” Associated Press reported citing Qatar Energy, the nation’s state-owned oil and gas company.

It said firefighters were working to halt the blazes and no one had been hurt so far.

It already shut production earlier in the war, but extensive damage could delay Qatar in getting its supplies to the market after the Iran war ends.

Meanwhile, Iran condemned the strike on its South Pars field, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of “uncontrollable consequences” that “could engulf the entire world.”

Iranian state media said Wednesday that Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars natural gas field — part of the world’s largest such gas resource and a pillar of the country’s energy supplies. Iran said it would retaliate by striking regional energy infrastructures. Iran condemned the strike on South Pars, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of “uncontrollable consequences” that “could engulf the entire world,” according to Associated Press.

In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said that Israel would not attack South Pars again, but warned on social media that if Iran continued striking Qatar’s energy infrastructure, the U.S. would retaliate and “massively blow up the entirety” of the field.

“I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran,” Trump said on social media.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has called Israel’s attack Wednesday on Iran’s South Pars natural gas field “incomprehensible,” The Associated Press reported.

“This move has been totally damaging the markets,” AP quoted Babiš as saying. “The price of gas is exploding and the price of oil as well.”

The Czech Republic is one of Israel’s biggest allies within the European Union.

Global oil and natural gas prices soared Wednesday after Iran attacked a key natural gas facility in Qatar that can supply one-fifth of the world’s gas and two oil refineries in Kuwait in response to the South Pars attack. 

International benchmark Brent crude rose to near $114 per barrel, up from under $73 per barrel on the eve of the war, according to AP. 

The European TTF benchmark for natural gas prices traded 24% higher on Thursday.

A woman suspected of brutally beating her 1-year-old stepson has been placed in pretrial detention, prosecutors said Thursday.

The 1-year-2-month-old boy was hospitalized earlier this week in Yerevan in a state of clinical death, where doctors succeeded in saving his life. The baby remains hospitalized, and on Wednesday health authorities said there is “positive dynamics” in his condition.

The victim’s stepmother is charged with attempted murder and assault of a minor. A court approved the prosecution’s motion to place her in pretrial detention for a two-month period.

Prosecutors say the suspect regularly physically abused the child between January 22 and March 10 this year, and ultimately attempted to murder him on March 15 by beating him. There were no immediate public comments from the child’s father.

Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive.