Iran war latest: Last hope gone? Russia, China exercise veto against UN resolution at reopening of Strait of Hormuz

Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz that had been repeatedly watered down in hopes those two countries would abstain. The vote — 11-2, with two abstentions from Pakistan and Colombia— took place just hours before an 8 p.m. (ET) deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for Iran to open the strategic waterway or face attacks on its power plants and bridges.

One-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes through the strait, and Iran’s stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring. "Failing to adopt this resolution sends the wrong signal to the world, to the people of the world," Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain's foreign minister, said after the vote — “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.”

It’s doubtful the resolution introduced by Bahrain, even if it had been adopted, would have impacted the war, now in its fifth week, because it was been significantly weakened to try to get Russia and China to abstain rather than veto it.


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.

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.

The resolution vetoed Tuesday "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.”

This should include escorting merchant and commercial vessels, and deterring attempts to close, obstruct or interfere with international navigation through the strait, it says.

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.

In response to the U.S. and Israeli attacks beginning on February 28, Iran has targeted hotels, airports, residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in more than 10 countries, including the Islamic Republic's Gulf neighbors, some of the world’s major exporters of oil and natural gas.

Iran's blockade in the strait is seen by Gulf nations as an existential threat. Bahrain, a Gulf nation that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet and is the Security Council’s Arab representative and its president this month, has been pressing for U.N. action.