China Calls for Red Sea Attacks on Civilian Ships to End

File photo: The USS Carney shot down 14 drones launched by Houthis on Saturday. Aaron Lau / US Department of Defense/AFP
File photo: The USS Carney shot down 14 drones launched by Houthis on Saturday. Aaron Lau / US Department of Defense/AFP
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China Calls for Red Sea Attacks on Civilian Ships to End

File photo: The USS Carney shot down 14 drones launched by Houthis on Saturday. Aaron Lau / US Department of Defense/AFP
File photo: The USS Carney shot down 14 drones launched by Houthis on Saturday. Aaron Lau / US Department of Defense/AFP

China called for attacks on civilian ships in the Red Sea to end and for safe navigation there, when China Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Yemen counterpart in Beijing on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Wang said China is ready to continue to play a constructive role in the matter, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Yemen’s Houthi group has launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea region since November, later expanding to the Indian Ocean. It has said it will attack any ships sailing towards Israeli ports, even in the Mediterranean Sea.
Its attacks have forced shippers to re-route cargo to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa and stoked fears of the Israel-Hamas war spreading and destabilizing the Middle East.
The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in retaliation for their attacks on vessels.



Fire Reportedly Contained at Iran's Abadan Refinery, One Dead

FILE PHOTO: A man stands near a damaged car at an impacted residential site, following an Israeli strike on Monday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A man stands near a damaged car at an impacted residential site, following an Israeli strike on Monday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Fire Reportedly Contained at Iran's Abadan Refinery, One Dead

FILE PHOTO: A man stands near a damaged car at an impacted residential site, following an Israeli strike on Monday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A man stands near a damaged car at an impacted residential site, following an Israeli strike on Monday, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 26, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

A fire that broke out on Saturday at a unit of Iran's Abadan refinery, killing one employee, has been brought under control, Iran's oil ministry's SHANA news agency reported.

It said operations were unaffected.

"According to initial technical probes, the cause of the fire was a leak in one of the pumps in Unit 70, and no evidence of sabotage or human intervention has been observed so far," Shana reported.

State television said firefighters from Abadan and nearby areas had responded.

Local new agencies earlier carried videos showing large flames and dark stacks of smoke rising from a segment of the refinery, Iran's oldest crude processing facility in the southwestern oil-rich Khuzestan Province, which is currently among one of the hottest places in the world. Temperatures are nearly 50 degrees Celsius (122°F).