China and Russia on Thursday expressed their displeasure with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for condemning Iran’s unprovoked attacks on neighboring countries.
UNSC adopted a draft resolution on Thursday sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that condemned Iran’s attacks on the Gulf states and Jordan. The resolution had overwhelming support, with no less than 135 co-sponsors and no votes against its adoption.
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The resolution demanded Iran halt its “egregious” and “deplorable” attacks against neighboring states and cease its effort to destroy their energy infrastructure. It pointedly avoided mentioning Israel, which has also been attacked by Iran.
“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,” reported Al Jazeera News, which is headquartered in GCC member Qatar.
Mohamed Abushahab, permanent U.N. representative of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), applauded the resolution as an important signal of worldwide disapproval for Iran’s violations of international law and state sovereignty.
Abushahab said the UAE reserved the right to defend itself “individually or collectively” and take any measures needed to protect its people and critical infrastructure.
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Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, denounced the resolution in his remarks to UNSC.
“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,” he said.
Iravani called the resolution a “blatant misuse of the Security Council mandate” because it did not condemn the United States and Israel for launching a “barbaric war against the Iranian people” and killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah 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,” he railed.
Iravani accused the U.S. and Israel of orchestrating the resolution, although it was in fact introduced by Bahrain, one of the targets of Tehran’s wanton missile and drone attacks.
Iran’s senior partners in the axis of tyranny, China and Russia, used methods short of invoking their UNSC veto to try thwarting the resolution, and complained vociferously about it when their efforts failed.
Russia tried introducing its own draft proposal that called on “all parties” to halt all “military activities,” and did not condemn Iran for targeting its neighbors. Only China, Pakistan, and Somalia were willing to vote for the Russian resolution.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia complained that the resolution, which passed with landslide support, was “extremely unbalanced.”
“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,” he added.
“Russia and China abstained because they oppose the very concept of this document, which ignores the root causes of the ongoing crisis,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a more intemperate statement on Thursday.
Zakharova said it was somehow “misleading” to criticize Iran for wantonly attacking its neighbors when the true origin of the crisis was the U.S. and Israel attacking Iran. She also slammed Bahrain for ignoring Russia and China’s suggestions for modifying the draft resolution to be less critical of Iran.
China’s permanent representative to the U.N., Fu Cong, said his government was “disappointed and regretful” that the resolution condemned Iran instead of calling on all parties to immediately suspend military action.
