UN resolution on taking action to reopen Strait of Hormuz vetoed by Russia and China
The UN resolution on the Strait of Hormuz has been vetoed by Russia and China.
Eleven representatives voted in favour, while two parties voted against, and two abstained.
The initial Bahrain proposal would have authorised countries to use “all necessary means” – UN wording that would include military action – to ensure transit through the Strait of Hormuz and deter attempts to close it.
After Russia, China and France, all veto-wielding countries on the 15-member Security Council, expressed opposition to approving the use of force, the resolution was revised to eliminate all references to offensive action.
It would have authorised only “all defensive means necessary”.
But Russia and China still vetoed the amended proposal.
World warned of ‘grave consequences’ if UN doesn’t act
Before Russia and China vetoed the proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Bahrain’s UN representative was making the case for it.
Bahrain’s foreign minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said the resolution did not “constitute a new reality” but did aim to provide a “serious response to a pattern of recurring hostile Iranian behaviour, behaviour that must cease”.
“Let us be clear. a failure to act today would entail grave consequences for the world and for humanity,” he added.
After the resolution failed, Zayani said: “The council failed to shoulder its responsibility in relation to an illegal conduct that requires decisive action with no delay.”
