UN Security Council draft resolution demanding Iran end its attacks on Gulf nations was cosponsored by 135 countries.
The United Nations Security Council adopted a draft resolution condemning Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries and Jordan, demanding that Tehran immediately halt hostilities.
Thirteen of the 15 members of the UNSC voted on Wednesday in favour of the resolution sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and cosponsored by an extraordinary 135 other UN member states.
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No countries voted against the draft.
“It was overwhelming. It was 13 votes on the Council in favour, two abstentions,” Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo said, reporting from UN headquarters in New York.
“Both China and Russia abstained but notably decided not to use their veto power to block this resolution, probably because it got a lot of support, not only in the Security Council but with other member states – 135 other countries cosponsored this resolution that has now been adopted,” Elizondo said.
“We believe that this is the largest number of countries ever to cosponsor a Security Council draft resolution,” he said.
The resolution condemns Iran’s attacks, demands an immediate halt to hostilities, and deplores Tehran’s targeting of infrastructure such as ports and energy facilities in the Gulf region.
“The resolution is very clear; it is now part of international law. The question becomes, will Iran abide by it? We will find out in the coming hours and days,” Elizondo said.
‘Profound regret’
After the vote, Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani addressed the Council, expressing his “profound regret” at the adoption of the resolution.
“This is a deeply regrettable day for the Security Council and for the international community. Today’s adoption is a serious setback to the Council’s credibility and leaves a lasting stain on its record,” Iravani said.
“Today’s action represents a blatant misuse of the Security Council mandate,” he said, blasting the United States for its “barbaric war against the Iranian people” and for starting the conflict, including killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“This resolution is a manifest injustice against my country, the main victim of a clear act of aggression. It distorts the realities on the ground and deliberately ignores the root causes of the current crisis,” Iravani said, accusing the US and Israel of being behind the resolution.
Iravani also said more than 1,348 civilians have been killed and more than 17,000 injured since the US and Israel launched their attack on February 28, including the “massacre of 170 schoolgirls in Minab”.
More than 19,000 civilian sites, including residential homes and hospitals, have also been damaged, he added.
Addressing the council, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said his country abstained from the vote on the draft resolution “because it was extremely unbalanced” and would not fulfil the purpose “of meeting international peace and security”.
“We regret the situation that Middle Eastern countries find themselves in. Moreover, we think it unacceptable to strike civilian infrastructure of Arab states in the Gulf,” Nebenzia said.
China’s ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun told the council that the conflict had “neither legitimacy nor legal basis” and the US and Israel must cease their attacks to prevent further deterioration of the regional situation.
The UNSC also voted, but failed to pass, a draft resolution put forward by Moscow on Wednesday that called on all sides to cease military action in the Middle East.
