May 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. on Thursday urged countries to support its United Nations resolution demanding Iran halt attacks and mining of the Strait of Hormuz, but diplomats said China and Russia are likely to veto it.
A Chinese veto would be awkward ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trip to China next week, where the Iran war is like to be high on the agenda.
A previous resolution backed by the United States that appeared to open a path to legitimizing U.S. military action against Iran failed last month after Russia and China exercised their vetoes in the 15-member U.N. Security Council.
Standing alongside envoys of Gulf countries that support the new draft, Washington’s U.N. envoy Mike Waltz told reporters that any countries that “seek to throw it out, are setting a very, very dangerous precedent.”
“We have to ask ourselves, if a country chooses to oppose such a simple proposition, do they really want peace?”
The new text was drafted by the U.S. and Bahrain, with support from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar.
Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani called the resolution “deeply flawed, one-sided, and politically motivated.”
“The United States has neither the legal, political, nor moral standing to portray itself as a defender of freedom of navigation or maritime security,” he said, referring to the U.S. military’s blockade on Iranian ships.
Diplomats said the resolution ran into strong Chinese and Russian objections when the Security Council discussed it in closed session this week and would likely prompt them to veto this effort.
Bahrain’s U.N. envoy Jamal Fares Alrowaiei said Bahrain looked forward “to working constructively with all council members in the days ahead to finalize this text.”
Waltz’s comments came as sources and officials said the United States and Iran were edging toward a temporary agreement to halt their war, with Tehran reviewing a proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues unresolved.
While Russia and China have not officially commented, one diplomat said Russia called for the draft to be withdrawn or completely rewritten. The diplomat said China contended the text was biased and criticized its invocation of Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which allows the Security Council to impose measures ranging from sanctions to military action.
The draft condemns Iran’s alleged violations of the current ceasefire and its “actions and threats aimed at closing, obstructing, tolling” freedom of navigation through the strait.
It demands Iran immediately cease attacks, disclose the locations of any mines and not impede clearance operations.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the proposed resolution a test of the utility of the United Nations and urged China and Russia not to veto it.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; additional reporting by John Irish in Paris and Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman)
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