Iran has accused the United States of deliberately using its war on the country to damage the global economy, in remarks made by a senior security official during talks in Beijing on Monday.

Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy head of international affairs at the Secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, made the claim while meeting China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency. He told the Chinese diplomat that Washington’s actions showed what he described as its “aggressive and hegemonic nature.”

The comments come as the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28 continues to weigh on the world economy, with disruption around the Strait of Hormuz pushing fuel prices sharply higher. China, a close diplomatic partner of Tehran, has repeatedly said the war should never have happened and has called for an end to the fighting and a return to dialogue.