Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday strongly condemned Israeli attacks on Iran in a phone call, the Kremlin said, adding that both leaders called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

"Both sides adhere to identical approaches, strongly condemn Israel's actions," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, adding that Moscow and Beijing believed the end to the hostilities "should be achieved exclusively by political and diplomatic means".

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China later this year for a regional summit, talks with leader Xi Jinping and commemorations marking 80 years since the end of World War II in Asia, the Kremlin said Thursday.

Putin will attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin on August 31-September 1, before heading to the WWII events scheduled in Beijing for September 3, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

The U.S. special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack visited Lebanon on Thursday and warned Hezbollah against getting involved in the war between its main backer Iran and Israel.

Barrack is of Lebanese origins and is also the U.S. ambassador to Turkey. He has said that he will temporarily replace Morgan Ortagus as Washington's special envoy to Lebanon. During his first official visit to Lebanon on Thursday he met with President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

U.S. President Donald Trump has told aides he has approved attack plans but is holding off to see if Iran will give up its nuclear program, the Wall Street Journal reported overnight.

He is due to receive an intelligence briefing on Thursday, a U.S. holiday, the White House said, while top U.S. diplomat Marco Rubio will meet his UK counterpart for talks expected to focus on the conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the Federal Reserve for not cutting interest rates, calling the central bank's leader "stupid" and insisting that there is "no inflation" despite worries over fresh tariffs.

"We have a stupid person, frankly, at the Fed, he probably won't cut today," Trump said, hours before the Fed was due to release its latest interest rate decision. "We have no inflation, we have only success, and I'd like to see interest rates get down."

President Donald Trump left the question of whether the United States will join Israeli strikes on Iran up in the air Wednesday, as he said that Tehran had reached out to seek negotiations.

"I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do," Trump told reporters as he supervised the installation of a new flagpole on the White House South Lawn.

Tropical storm Erick, bearing down on the southwestern coast of Mexico on the Pacific Ocean, strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday, the US National Hurricane Center said.

The hurricane is 255 kilometers (155 miles) from the town of Puerto Angel in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca and is packing maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers an hour (75 mph), the meteorological center said.

Israel's military said it was striking military targets in Tehran on Wednesday, as AFP journalists reported hearing blasts in the north and east of the Iranian capital.

The Israeli air force "is currently striking military targets belonging to the Iranian Regime in Tehran," the military said in a statement, on the sixth day of the war between the arch foes.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday the nation would never surrender as demanded by President Donald Trump and warned the United States it would face "irreparable damage" if it intervenes in support of its ally.

The speech came six days into the conflict, with Trump demanding Iran's "unconditional surrender" while boasting the United States could kill Khamenei and fueling speculation about a possible intervention.

Hundreds of people gathered outside a London court Wednesday in a show of support for the provocative Irish rap group Kneecap as one of the singers appeared charged with a terror offense for allegedly promoting Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Liam O'Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May after being accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert in November.