Iran exports nearly half of its oil production and uses the rest for its own domestic needs. The sliver of Iran’s oil exports that China does not purchase is shipped mainly as economic assistance or barter to two nearly bankrupt allies, Syria and Venezuela, that have little money to pay for fuel.

China boasts a massive, ever-expanding missile force that could make war in the Pacific devastating for the US and its allies.

The death toll from Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza has surpassed 41,000, according to Gaza's health authorities. Oxfam, a confederation of nongovernmental organizations, reported Monday that more women and children had died in the airstrikes than during any other conflict in the past two decades.