Russia has vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would have called out Iran for failing to prevent its weapons from falling into the hands of Houthi militants in Yemen’s civil war. Instead, the 15-member Council unanimously adopted a rival, Russian-proposed
resolution that did not mention Iran and that extended a targeted sanctions regime related to Yemen, where a proxy war is playing out between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Russian veto has angered Washington and its Western allies that have been
lobbying for months for Iran to be held accountable at the United Nations for Tehran’s continued destabilizing actions across the Middle East.
Britain had drafted a resolution in consultation with the United States and France that initially sought to condemn Iran for violating the arms embargo on Houthi leaders and included commitment from the council to take action over it to take action over it. The latest British draft dropped the condemnation, however, and instead only expressed concern that U.N. experts monitoring the sanctions, reported that Iran had violated a targeted arms embargo by failing to stop missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles reaching the
Houthis, while refraining from any mention of any possible U.N.-backed action to thwart smuggling of weapons, which would effectively eliminate Iran’s involvement.