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Chinese Foreign Minister Wag Yi (C) sits at the head of a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov (Top R) and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazeem Gharibabadi (Top L) in Beijing on March 14, 2025. (Stringer/Getty Images)

The short-lived war between Israel and Iran has highlighted Iran’s partnerships with other U.S. adversaries, mainly Russia and communist China.

Though no formal alliance exists between Iran, China, Russia, and other aligned states, their political and economic relationships are often seen as a de facto coalition opposed to the U.S.-led West.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) publicly condemned the Israeli and American attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military installations as a violation of Iranian sovereignty.

The CCP’s “long-term interests” were damaged by the conflict, retired U.S. Navy Capt. Stu Cvrk, wrote in an op-ed for The Epoch Times. He noted the Chinese regime’s extensive investments in Iran, including its early aid to Tehran’s nuclear program and its massive consumption of Iranian crude oil.

Cai Shenkun, an overseas Chinese independent commentator, told The Epoch Times that the decision by President Donald Trump to launch a surgical strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities was not just to set back its nuclear program, but also to send a message to other governments with anti-U.S. leanings.

In previous months, Trump had earned a reputation as a businessman unwilling to involve the United States in military conflict, Cai said.

“But now it’s clear that these dictators can’t predict his moves, so they’re genuinely afraid of him,” he said. “Trump acts decisively—if he says he’ll strike, he won’t hesitate.”

He added that Trump’s willingness to aid Israel raises the possibility that his administration might not stand idle if the Chinese regime attempts to take Taiwan by force.

If Beijing were to “start a war in the Taiwan Strait, the United States could provide Taiwan with decapitation-strike weapons,“ he said, noting that “CCP officials fear decapitation strikes the most.” (More)

More World News

The Trump administration is suing all 15 federal judges from the District of Maryland, alleging that the district issued an illegal order automatically blocking deportations for individuals who file lawsuits before the court.

“Every unlawful order entered by the district courts robs the executive branch of its most scarce resource: time to put its policies into effect,” the June 24 complaint by the Justice Department states. “In the process, such orders diminish the votes of the citizens who elected the head of the executive branch.”

The District of Maryland has multiple locations with judges who have issued injunctions against the administration’s immigration enforcement. It was the venue, for example, for the high-profile lawsuit challenging Kilmar Abrego-Garcia’s deportation under the Alien Enemies Act.

“Because this court and its judges are named defendants in this case, each judge in the District of Maryland is required to recuse from the matter,” the Justice Department filing said.

The lawsuit comes after months of clashes between the judicial and executive branches, particularly over the Alien Enemies Act and how far judges could go in blocking the president’s policies.

One of the judges named in the administration’s lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman, issued a nationwide injunction on Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship.

That case and two others reached the Supreme Court, which held oral argument last month on the issue and the scope of judges’ authority. (More)

More Politics:

By the time many children turn 10, they may already be on a path that doubles—or even triples—their risk of suicide.

A new study published Wednesday found that young people who compulsively use phones, video games, or social media face significantly higher risks of suicidal ideation and emotional distress by early adolescence.

“The most important takeaway is that it’s not the amount of screen time that puts youth at risk—it’s how they use screens that matters most,” Yunyu Xiao, lead author and assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, told The Epoch Times in an email.

Children who felt upset when separated from their phones, struggled to stop using apps, or turned to screens as a coping mechanism were most likely to use screens compulsively, which predicted later mental health challenges.

“This shifts the conversation away from concerns about screen exposure and toward a more precise focus on addictive use,” Xiao said. (More)

📷 Photo of the Day: A Sofia Zoo employee sprays water on Chiko, a white rhino, to cool him off during a heatwave with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius, in Sofia, Bulgaria, on June 25, 2025. (Nikolay Doychinov/AFP via Getty Images)

 📸 Day in Photos: Protests in Kenya, Astronauts Fly to ISS, and UK’s Largest Music Festival (Look)

✍️ Opinion: The Dire Shortage of Actual American Workers—by Jeffrey A. Tucker (Read)

🎵 Music: Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 (Listen)

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U.S. Navy SEALs emphasize honor, courage, and commitment to the mission. (petesphotography/Getty Images)

When Dan Cnossen opened his eyes, he saw the sterile walls and beeping medical devices of a hospital room. He also saw his mother’s face, just a few feet from him, looking into his own. How could she be here, in Afghanistan? But then Cnossen realized he wasn’t in Afghanistan anymore. He was back in the United States. Then the memories began to flood.

In 2009, during a nighttime operation in Afghanistan, Cnossen stepped on a pressure plate, igniting an IED that cost him both his legs. His comrades-in-arms transported him down the rocky face of a craggy hill, each step they took jarring his body, engulfing him in indescribable pain. The last thing he remembered before waking up in the hospital was being loaded onto a chopper.

Cnossen chose to tackle his recovery with the same determination and grit that had carried him through the notoriously grueling training to become a U.S. Navy SEAL and subsequent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cnossen not only recovered from his wounds, but went on to become a Paralympic athlete of the highest order, winning multiple gold medals in skiing. All these experiences have honed Cnossen’s resilience to a diamond-hard edge. Drawing on his past, Cnossen shared five rules for resiliency.

Find Your Cohort—Surrounding yourself with likeminded individuals who share your goals is a key to getting through challenges.

When Things Get Tough, Sharpen and Narrow Your Focus—Try to “think small.” What can I do right now? What’s the next step, the next thing to work on?

Shatter Negative Perspectives—To build mental toughness, we have to learn to break out of a single, narrow perspective of some difficult or tragic circumstance. (More)

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