Russia and China Veto UN Resolution Aimed at Reopening Strait of Hormuz

AP Photo/Pamela Smith

Russia and China have vetoed a pared-down UN Security Council resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran War.

The provisions of the Bahrain-led resolution had been repeatedly pared down in an effort to convince Russia and China to abstain from voting — an effort that ultimately failed as the two nations refused to back down in Tuesday’s vote.

Initially, the proposal was designed to authorize countries to use “all necessary means” to open up the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Associated Press.

However, upon expressed opposition from Russia, China, and France, it was revised to eliminate language that suggested orders for action and narrowed down the authorized area to solely the Strait of Hormuz itself, not its adjacent waters.

The final tally for the vote, which took place just hours after President Donald Trump threatened via Truth Social that “a whole civilization will die tonight” in Iran if they do not make a deal, was 11-2 with abstentions from Pakistan and Colombia.

Russia and China have been vocal critics of the U.S. and Israel’s involvement in Iran.

China’s UN representative, Fu Cong, alluded to Trump’s Truth Social post in his statement regarding the resolution, which he described as “highly susceptible to misinterpretation and abuse.”

“At a time when the United States is openly threatening this very survival of a civilization, the current hostilities imposed on Iran are very likely to further escalate,” he said.

The Associated Press reported that Russia and China circulated a separate resolution after the vote that urged an end to all military activities and denounced attacks on civilian infrastructure and civilians themselves.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., blasted Russia and China for their votes, calling them “capable of paralyzing the Council through obstruction and manufactured confusion” in a statement.

“No one should tolerate that they are holding the global economy at gunpoint,” Waltz said in reference to Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz. “But today, Russia and China did tolerate it. 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.”

The Strait, which lies between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, has been effectively closed to most commercial shipping since Feb. 28 when the Iran War began — a massive disruption for oil and gas shipments as approximately 13 million barrels of oil move through the waters daily.

Crude oil jumped above $113 a barrel in the U.S. on Tuesday — $48 higher per barrel than it was at this time last year.

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