Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution Tuesday aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, just hours before President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to cease threatening the key waterway.
Trump has given Iran until 8 p.m. ET to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes against its power plants and bridges on Tuesday. The resolution received 11 votes in favor and two against, with abstentions from Pakistan and Colombia.
“No one should tolerate that they are holding the global economy at gunpoint, but today, Russia and China did tolerate,” U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz said Tuesday. “They sided with a regime that seeks to intimidate the Gulf into submission, even as it brutalizes its own people during a national internet blackout for daring to imagine dignity or freedom.”
“Failing to adopt this resolution sends the wrong signal to the world, to the people of the world — the signal that the threat to international waterways can pass without any decisive action by the international organization responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security,” Bahrain’s foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, added following the vote.
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The vetoed resolution, which was introduced by Bahrain, “strongly encourages states interested in the use of commercial maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate with the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz.”
The resolution also demanded that Iran immediately halt attacks on merchant and commercial vessels and stop impeding their freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and attacking civilian infrastructure.
The language of the resolution was significantly weakened to try to get Russia and China to abstain rather than veto it, according to The Associated Press.
The initial Gulf proposal would have authorized countries to use “all necessary means” — U.N. wording that would include military action — to ensure transit through the Strait of Hormuz and deter attempts to close it.
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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 authorized only “all defensive means necessary.” A vote had been expected on Saturday.
But instead, the resolution was further weakened to eliminate any reference to Security Council authorization — which is an order for action — and limit its provisions to the Strait of Hormuz. Previous drafts had included adjacent waters.
“Let me be clear — this text would only embolden the United States and the Israeli regime to continue in their unlawful actions and atrocious crime, while shielding from accountability,” Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., Amir Saeid Iravani, said following the vote.
“The Iranian regime has until 8 p.m. Eastern Time to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Tuesday. “Only the president knows where things stand and what he will do.”
Fox News’ Patrick Ward, Anders Hagstrom and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
