China’s top UN diplomat slammed the US on Friday over its coercive behaviour, sanctioning of Chinese vessels and firms and for starting the Iran war along with Israel as Beijing assumed the rotating one-month presidency of the UN Security Council.

The verbal blast came as Washington heaped more pressure on China on Friday by sanctioning a China-based petroleum terminal operator, the latest in a string of recent US moves to cut off Chinese funding to Iran under what the White House has dubbed Operation Economic Fury.

“We don’t believe it’s fair to sanction Chinese ships or companies,” Fu Cong, China’s punchy UN ambassador, told reporters. “The Iran war is the biggest example of the rise of unilateralism, power politics and some bullying practice by certain partners. And it is dealing heavy blows to the rule of law in international affairs.”

The UN has come under blistering criticism by US President Donald Trump and his Republican allies for inefficiency, bloat and its inability to end a growing number of global wars and conflicts at its 80th anniversary.

Fu said China would do what it could over the next month as Security Council head, but its clout was limited in forging a lasting ceasefire and reopening the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

“We’ll try our best to work on our American friends, but how much influence we can have, I’m not sure,” said Fu, China’s former ambassador to the European Union. “Frankly speaking, we are very concerned about some of the remarks we have been hearing recently about this ceasefire being temporary, about the need to initiate another round of attacks.”