PHOTO PHOTO: Members of the United Nations Security Council attend a meeting on the Middle East at UN headquarters in New York, US, December 18, 2018. REUTERS / Shannon Stapleton
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council on Thursday began voting on a US bid to extend an arms embargo on Iran, opposed by Russia and China, and the result will be announced at a meeting on Friday, diplomats said.
The 15-member council has almost operated on amid the coronavirus pandemic, giving states 24 hours to cast a vote.
The 13-year-old arms embargo is due to expire in October under a 2015 nuclear deal among Iran, Russia, China, Germany, Britain, France and the United States that prevents Tehran from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for relief from sanctions.
In a bid to win more council support, the United States on Tuesday closed its draft resolution to just four paragraphs that would simply extend a gun ban on Tehran “until the Security Council decides otherwise,” saying it is “essential to maintaining international peace and security. ”
But diplomats and analysts said the draft text would still likely fail. To pass a resolution, at least nine votes in favor and no fetuses are required by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France.
If the United States does not succeed, it has threatened to try to reverse all UN sanctions on Iran with a clause in the nuclear deal, even though Washington stopped the agreement in 2018. The move could further the already fragile nuclear agreement endanger.
It was not immediately clear how Russia, China or other members of the Security Council might try to stop the United States from imposing all UN sanctions on Iran, known as snapback, or if – procedurally – one way are that they can.
Diplomats warn that the process would be difficult and messy. They said several countries claimed that Washington could not legally activate a snapback of sanctions and that the measures would simply not reimpose on Iran itself.
Report by Michelle Nichols; edited by Grant McCool
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