Over 10,000 Chinese nationals have safely returned from countries including the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a press briefing on Tuesday. China's foreign ministry and civil aviation administration have guided domestic airlines to increase capacity to repatriate Chinese citizens stranded in the Middle East, Guo added. More than 3,000 Chinese citizens had already been evacuated from Iran, the foreign ministry said last week. The war in the Middle East, which broke out after the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, led to flight cancellations across the region. Major Chinese airlines, including Air China and China Southern Airlines, resumed flights earlier this month between some Chinese cities and Gulf hubs such as Riyadh and Dubai. Read: Airline shares battered as oil prices spike, Iran war intensifies China has condemned the US and Israeli strikes, repeatedly called for a ceasefire, ...
G7 energy ministers will discuss soaring energy prices due to the war in Iran on a call on Tuesday while a group of European Union leaders will do so later in the day, officials said. Oil prices surged to their highest levels since mid‑2022 on Monday propelled by fears of Gulf output cuts and disrupted tanker traffic. G7 finance ministers said on Monday they were prepared to implement "necessary measures" in response to the price surge but stopped short of committing to coordinated emergency releases of reserves. Even before the Iran crisis, European energy prices typically sat higher than those in the US and China. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has promised to propose measures to tackle the issue at an EU summit next week. Read: Iran says oil blockade will continue until attacks end, Trump threatens to hit harder Tuesday's G7 call is scheduled for 1245 GMT. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure, whose country holds the G7 presidency this year, said ther...