TEHRAN- Beijing's recent peace plan to end the Ukraine war has seen the U.S. ramping up tensions with China.

For more than a week now, U.S. officials have been claiming China is considering sending "lethal" weapons to Russia.

The most direct warning to date has come from U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during a news conference in Astana, following meetings with Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

“We did very clearly warn China about the implications and consequences of going through with providing such support,” he said.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has also warned that there would be “real costs” for China if the country went forward with providing lethal weapons to Russia.

Washington alleges it has intelligence that China is considering sending lethal arms to Russia.

But critics argue it may be similar to the same intelligence that the U.S. used to invade Iraq in March 2003. 

"China can't have it both ways when it comes to ... (the Ukraine war). It can't be putting forward peace proposals on the one hand, while actually feeding the flames of the fire that Russia has started with the other hand," Blinken said in Kazakhstan.

"We will not hesitate, for example, to target Chinese companies or individuals that violate our sanctions, or otherwise engaged in supporting the Russian war effort," he added.

Washington has recently blacklisted several Chinese companies for allegedly providing "non-lethal" assistance to Russia.

Beijing has strongly denounced the punitive measures. 

The Chinese foreign ministry said it will take "resolute countermeasures" in response to U.S. sanctions against Chinese companies.

"We deplore and reject the move," China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press briefing.

Washington's course of action "which has neither basis in international law nor authorization from the UN Security Council, is a typical practice of long-arm jurisdiction, severely violating China's interests," Mao said.

She pointed out that China has been maintaining its neutrality on the Ukraine conflict, actively pushing for peaceful dialogue and political solution, while the U.S. has been fueling the war by pouring more than $32 billion of military aid into the battlefield.

Last week, Beijing called for peace talks, releasing a 12-point paper to end the war. It included respect for all countries' territorial sovereignty.

"In response to the erroneous actions of the U.S. in sanctioning Chinese companies, we will resolutely counter them ... it is as plain as daylight who is promoting peace and who is pouring fuel into the fire," Mao said.

She called on the U.S. to stop spreading disinformation, drop its sanctions on Chinese companies and embark on a path to help ease the tension.

"China will continue to take necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises," she noted.

Beijing has also urged the U.S. to reflect on itself and stop spreading false information about the war.

Further public claims by Washington and its NATO allies that China is considering providing lethal equipment, including drones, to Russia comes at a time when the U.S. is sending an additional $1.2 billion in financial assistance to Ukraine.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen became the latest senior Western official to visit the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, promising assistance and more measures to isolate Russia after meetings with the Ukrainian President and other officials.

Yellen, flanked by sandbags in true Hollywood style as some pointed out, announced the transfer of the first $1.25 billion from the latest, $9.9 billion tranche of economic and budget assistance from Washington.

As is the norm now, when U.S. officials meet their counterparts in Kyiv, air raid sirens go off in the Ukrainian capital and as usual, these turn out to be false alarms.

The rising tensions between the U.S. and China also come amid criticism over the use of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to advance political agendas against foes, rather than an international mechanism to address global human rights issues.

In a dig at the U.S. and some of its Western allies, China said it opposes "certain countries’ moves to politicize, weaponize and instrumentalize human rights issues."

The 52nd session of the UNHRC this week saw a heavy focus on Ukraine with various countries exchanging accusations. 

Mao said "the U.S. is in no position to point fingers at China-Russia relations. We do not accept coercion or pressure from the U.S."?

Mao also slammed Washington for not just pouring lethal weapons into the battlefield in Ukraine but also selling more "sophisticated weapons to the Taiwan region in violation of the three China-U.S. joint communiqués. What exactly is the U.S. up to? The world deserves to know the answer."

As Washington tries to ditch the Chinese peace plan to end the Ukraine crisis, the irony is the position of Kyiv itself.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country needed to work with China, arguing "it seems to me that there is respect for our territorial integrity, security issues" in the Chinese 12-point paper to end the war.

This is while the Russian foreign ministry has thanked the Chinese proposal but said that any settlement of the conflict needed to recognize Russia's concerns including Ukraine refraining from joining the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.

Iran has supported the Chinese initiative, saying it lays the groundwork for peace talks between the warring sides.

This is, in essence, the only solution to the conflict.

The imposition of sanctions and Western profiteering from sending arms have failed to end the war; rather, they have backfired on Europeans who have witnessed record inflation and consequent protests across the continent.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has hit out at the European Union after the bloc adopted its latest package of sanctions against Russia.

"All this, of course, is absurd," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in response to a question about the 10th round of EU sanctions aimed at undercutting Russia's finances.

Peskov said Western governments are struggling to find more people and entities to sanction. "That explains the illogical listing of individuals and entities," Peskov remarked.

"We are talking about such accomplished people and for them, inclusion in the lists will not cause any discomfort," he added.

Peskov also warned that NATO as a single bloc is no longer Russia's conditional opponent but its enemy.

As tensions continue to escalate with a serious potential knock-on effect on international peace and security, some sides are promoting peace talks while others are fueling the flames of war with the seemingly never-ending shipments of arms.