As an unprecedented Israeli attack on Iran last week sparks a spiraling conflict between the two enemy states, China has seen an opportunity to cast itself as potential peace broker – and an alternative voice to the United States.

China warned the Iran-Israel conflict may spread wider instability in the Middle East, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaching out to both countries as their days-old conflict shows no end in sight.

China is "deeply worried" about Israel's military operation against Iran that has escalated tensions in the Middle East, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday, in his first public comments on the conflict that erupted last Friday.