UN Safety Council draft decision demanding Iran finish its assaults on Gulf nations was cosponsored by 135 international locations.
The United Nations Security Council adopted a draft decision condemning Iran’s assaults on Gulf international locations and Jordan, demanding that Tehran instantly halt hostilities.
13 of the 15 members of the UNSC voted on Wednesday in favour of the decision sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and cosponsored by a rare 135 different UN member states.
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No international locations voted in opposition to the draft.
“It was overwhelming. It was 13 votes on the Council in favour, two abstentions,” Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo mentioned, reporting from UN headquarters in New York.
“Each China and Russia abstained however notably determined to not use their veto energy to dam this decision, in all probability as a result of it bought quite a lot of assist, not solely within the Safety Council however with different member states – 135 different international locations cosponsored this decision that has now been adopted,” Elizondo mentioned.
“We imagine that that is the biggest variety of international locations ever to cosponsor a Safety Council draft decision,” he mentioned.
The decision condemns Iran’s assaults, calls for an instantaneous halt to hostilities, and deplores Tehran’s concentrating on of infrastructure resembling ports and power amenities within the Gulf area.
“The decision could be very clear; it’s now a part of worldwide regulation. The query turns into, will Iran abide by it? We are going to discover out within the coming hours and days,” Elizondo mentioned.
‘Profound remorse’
After the vote, Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani addressed the Council, expressing his “profound remorse” on the adoption of the decision.
“It is a deeply regrettable day for the Safety Council and for the worldwide neighborhood. In the present day’s adoption is a critical setback to the Council’s credibility and leaves an enduring stain on its file,” Iravani mentioned.
“In the present day’s motion represents a blatant misuse of the Safety Council mandate,” he mentioned, blasting america for its “barbaric struggle in opposition to the Iranian folks” and for beginning the battle, together with killing Iran’s Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei.
“This decision is a manifest injustice in opposition to my nation, the principle sufferer of a transparent act of aggression. It distorts the realities on the bottom and intentionally ignores the basis causes of the present disaster,” Iravani mentioned, accusing the US and Israel of being behind the decision.
Iravani additionally mentioned greater than 1,348 civilians have been killed and greater than 17,000 injured for the reason that US and Israel launched their assault on February 28, together with the “bloodbath of 170 schoolgirls in Minab”.
Greater than 19,000 civilian websites, together with residential houses and hospitals, have additionally been broken, he added.
Addressing the council, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, mentioned his nation abstained from the vote on the draft decision “as a result of it was extraordinarily unbalanced” and wouldn’t fulfil the aim “of assembly worldwide peace and safety”.
“We remorse the state of affairs that Center Jap international locations discover themselves in. Furthermore, we predict it unacceptable to strike civilian infrastructure of Arab states within the Gulf,” Nebenzia mentioned.
China’s ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun informed the council that the battle had “neither legitimacy nor authorized foundation” and the US and Israel should stop their assaults to forestall additional deterioration of the regional state of affairs.
The UNSC additionally voted, however did not move, a draft decision put ahead by Moscow on Wednesday that referred to as on all sides to stop navy motion within the Center East.
