It is the United States that started the Iranian nuclear crisis, said Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the United Nations on Tuesday, in response to accusations against Iran at a Security Council meeting. 

China has noted that some members of the Security Council have done nothing but accuse Iran of violating its non-proliferation obligations, in an attempt to justify the military actions of Israel and the United States, Fu said.

"Here, China wishes to remind those countries of the following basic facts: it is none other than the United States that started the Iranian nuclear crisis," he said.

The United States unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. Thereafter, it reinstated and escalated unilateral sanctions against Iran and adopted measures of "maximum pressure," which prevented Iran from enjoying the economic dividends conferred by the agreement and forced Tehran to scale back its commitments under the agreement, Fu said.

It is again the United States, at the expense of its own credibility, launched military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, undermining the negotiation process it initiated, leading the Iranian nuclear issue to yet another impasse, and resulting in an abrupt escalation of the regional situation, he said.

Iran's sincerity in resolving the nuclear crisis should be valued, said the Chinese ambassador.