Russia, China sharply criticize US attack on Iran

United Nations envoys from Russia and China on Sunday expressed strong objections to the US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, deepening the superpowers' rift with Washington as their mutual friend Iran is bombed.

"Peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved by the use of force," China's United Nations Ambassador Fu Cong said.

"Diplomatic means to address the Iranian nuclear issue haven't been exhausted, and there's still hope for a peaceful solution."

China helped mediate a regional spat between Iran and Saudi Arabia and has signed vast but mostly unrealized economic deals with Tehran.

Iran supplies Russia with drones fired into Ukraine, and the two Western pariah states have drawn closer.

Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia hit out a what he called the rerun of the US Iraq War, based on weapons of mass destruction which were never found.

"Again we're being asked to believe the US's fairy tales, to once again inflict suffering on millions of people living in the Middle East," Nebenzia said.

"This cements our conviction that history has taught our US colleagues nothing.