• China, Russia pledge deeper cooperation, mutual support.
• Putin expected to visit China in first half of this year.
• Lavrov says visit likely during week beginning May 18.
  

Russia is ready to increase energy supplies to China ahead of an expected visit by President Vladimir Putin, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Wednesday at a news conference in Beijing.

The agencies quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit would take place in the first half of the year, while the Vedomosti newspaper cited sources as saying it would be during the week beginning May 18.

President Xi Jinping met Lavrov on Wednesday, assuring Moscow of China’s friendship and saying that China and Russia must trust and support each other, deepen cooperation, and defend each other’s interests.

US President Donald Trump is also scheduled to meet Xi during his first visit to China in eight years on May 14 and 15.

Lavrov told the news conference that Russia was ready to help China and other countries affected by the Middle East crisis with energy supplies.

“Russia can, of course, make up for the resource shortfall facing both China and other countries that are interested in working with us on an equal and mutually beneficial basis,” Lavrov told the news conference in China.

Lavrov also said that Russia and China had all the necessary means to avoid reliance on what he described as US efforts to disrupt global energy markets through conflict in the Middle East.

“Thank God, China and Russia have every capability, including those already in use, reserve capacity, and planned capacity, to avoid depending on such aggressive gambits, which undermine the global economy,” he said.

• Iran military directed satellite to monitor US military sites: FT.
• Images taken before and after strikes on those locations: report.
• ‘IRGC received access to commercial stations operated by Emposat.’

Iran secretly acquired a Chinese spy satellite in late 2024 that allowed it to target US military bases across the Middle East during the recent war, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The TEE-01B satellite, built and launched by the Chinese company Earth Eye Co, was acquired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force after it was launched into space from China, the report said, citing leaked Iranian military documents.

Iranian military commanders directed the satellite to monitor major US military sites, the newspaper said, citing time-stamped coordinate lists, satellite imagery and orbital analysis. The images were taken in March, before and after drone and missile strikes on those locations, the FT added.

As part of the deal, the IRGC received access to commercial ground stations operated by Emposat, a Beijing-based provider of satellite control and data services with a network extending across Asia, Latin America and other regions, according to the report.

Reuters could not verify the report.

The White House, CIA, Pentagon, as well as China’s foreign affairs ministry, defence ministry and its embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Earth Eye Co and Emposat also did not immediately respond to Reuters’ queries.

The FT said the White House did not comment on the relationship between Emposat and the IRGC, but a spokesperson referred to comments US President Donald Trump made at the weekend when he warned that China would face “big problems” if it provided Iran with air defence systems.

When asked about the matter, the Chinese embassy in Washington told the FT: “We firmly oppose relevant parties spreading speculative and insinuative disinformation against China.”

The satellite captured images of Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on March 13, 14 and 15, the FT said.

On March 14, Trump confirmed US planes at the base had been hit.

According to the report, the satellite also monitored the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan and locations close to the US Fifth Fleet naval base in Manama, Bahrain, and Erbil airport, Iraq, around the time of IRGC-claimed attacks on facilities in those areas.

US President Donald Trump, whose war and immigration policies have been condemned by Pope Leo, reiterated his criticism of the religious leader on Tuesday night.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump urged that “someone please tell Pope Leo” about the killings of protesters by Iran and that “for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable.”

The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states with US bases.

US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions.

Iran does not have nuclear weapons while the US does. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons.

While Western countries have long believed that Iran wants a nuclear bomb — or at least the ability to make one very quickly — Tehran has always denied that, citing its membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Trump’s comments come after Pope Leo warned earlier in the day of the risk of democracies sliding into “majoritarian tyranny”.

The first US pope, Leo wrote in a letter issued by the Vatican about the use of power in democratic societies, and said democracies remained healthy only when they were rooted in moral values.

The pope has criticised Trump’s decision to launch the war against Iran, saying God rejects the prayers of those who launch wars and have “hands full of blood”.

The pope termed Trump’s threat this month to destroy the Iranian civilisation as unacceptable and previously declined to join the US president’s so-called “Board of Peace” initiative for Gaza.

The religious leader has also urged a “deep reflection” on the way migrants are treated in the US while Trump has pursued a hardline immigration policy.

On Sunday, Trump called the pope “weak” and “terrible” on crime and foreign policy issues.