A resumption of open military hostilities between the US, Israel and Iran is “unacceptable,” Xi Jinping said Wednesday, while meeting with Vladimir Putin in Beijing.

Instead, it’s “especially important” that all sides stick to negotiations and diplomacy, he went on.

Putin’s trip to the Chinese capital came just days after Donald Trump’s brief visit. Xi put on the same show for the Russian delegation: The elaborate welcome ceremony in Tiananmen Square with the leaping, cheering children, the overwrought band music, the soldiers arranged in neat rows and on and on.

Like all China-Russia summits, Xi, Putin and their representatives signed a lot of agreements — dozens of them, actually. As usual, none of them were worth mentioning specifically except for the one that wasn’t signed: A definitive deal for the long-stalled Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline.

That project’s a big deal for both countries. Putin wants another conduit to export gas to his Chinese benefactors at a time when Moscow’s economic relationship with the West remains hopelessly strained. Beijing likes the idea of diversifying its energy imports in an increasingly unpredictable world.

The two countries have a Trump-style MOU on the pipeline, but there are lots of outstanding issues around pricing and financing. Putin’s long-time spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that there’s “an understanding on the project’s main parameters” but said “some nuances remain to be ironed out.”

Among other arrangements, Xi and Putin inked another one of their “strategic cooperation” blood pacts on Wednesday. I’ve lost count of how many times the two men have signed a piece of paper declaring themselves strategically aligned in the existential battle to wrest control of the world from “unilateral hegemony,” as Chinese state media put it, obliquely referring to the US.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Democrats are trying for an eighth time to constrain Trump’s capacity to wage war indefinitely in the Mideast. The Senate voted 50 to 47 to advance a resolution that aims to compel The White House to end the war or secure congressional approval to continue it. There are now four Republicans on board, including Bill Cassidy, who was beaten by a Trump-backed challenger in a primary last week.

Although he’d plainly rather not, Trump’s considering a resumption of airstrikes against Iran and claimed earlier this week he was “an hour” away from ordering new attacks, only to be dissuaded by the Gulf monarchies.

Tehran remains defiant. On Wednesday, the Guards stepped up the rhetoric, threatening to expand the war if Iran’s attacked again.

Remarkably, The New York Times revealed late Tuesday that the original plan for a post-theocracy Iran involved backing a coup led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, of all people.

As it turns out, the Israeli strike on the street where Ahmadinejad lived wasn’t an attempt on his life, but rather an effort to free him from house arrest.

Ahmadinejad, a cartoonish symbol of the regime to the point of caricature, was famous for fiery anti-American rhetoric. But, in the years since his presidency, Ahmadinejad became a government critic. Or as much of a critic as former Iranian officials can be.

Apparently, Ahmadinejad was on board with an Israeli regime change plot that would’ve seen him take power amid a vacuum created by the assassination of Ali Khamenei. Alas, “the audacious plan quickly went awry,” the Times said, citing US officials.

Ahmadinejad was injured in the airstrike meant to liberate him. After that, “he became disillusioned” with the scheme. It’s unclear, the Times went on, how he “was recruited to take part” in the first place. His current whereabouts are unknown.