Chris Spyrou

The strikes, the killings, the protests and the total chaos.

But while the US and Israel are front and centre, there's another superpower sitting in the corner playing a very quiet and very strategic game.

On the surface, China has been positioning itself as the adult in the room or the sensible superpower.

It's been calling for calm and has even been credited with quietly brokering the two-week ceasefire earlier this month.

But when you look a little closer, a very different picture emerges.

Because while Beijing's been playing peacemaker, it's also been allegedly feeding Iran's war machine through the back door, shipping everything from missile parts to rocket fuel and the intelligence it needs to strike its top trading partners.

And those are all allegations it's denied.

So what exactly is China doing in the Iran war?

Is it a neutral mediator trying to prevent the conflict from spiraling?

A silent backer keeping Iran alive without getting its hands dirty?

Or is it simply playing both sides and hedging its bets?

To help us make sense of it all, we're joined by expert in international conflict, Dr. Jessica Gnauer at UNSW.

Dr. Jessica, welcome to the briefing.

Before we get into China's supposed role in the war, how would you describe China's relationship with Iran generally?

And some experts believe we're kind of seeing that come through in this conflict, at least with Chinese tech allegedly helping Iran navigate its strikes on US bases in the region.

How is Beijing navigating that with its trade relationship with the US?

So with that said, what do you think is China's intentions here?

Is this a war that they want to drag out or is this something that they want a quick end to?

You mentioned Canada and the UK there, this idea that they are cozying up to China.

Do you think that's a good idea for Australia?