The United States is urging Security Council members to back a draft resolution demanding that Iran halt attacks on, and the mining of, the Strait of Hormuz, but diplomats say China and Russia are likely to veto the text, Ada Derana reported on Thursday.
The draft, circulated this week, condemns Iran’s alleged ceasefire violations and “actions and threats aimed at closing, obstructing, tolling” freedom of navigation through the strait. It is built on Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which authorises sanctions and the use of force — a framing that Beijing and Moscow have already objected to.
China called the text “biased” and criticised the Chapter VII reference, while Russia said the draft should be “withdrawn or completely rewritten.” A Chinese veto would land in the awkward run-up to President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing next week, where the Iran war is expected to dominate the agenda. A previous US-backed resolution that would have legitimised wider US military action was vetoed by both powers last month.
Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani called the draft “deeply flawed, one-sided, and politically motivated.” He told the council that “the United States has neither the legal, political, nor moral standing to portray itself as a defender of freedom of navigation.”
The diplomatic standoff is unfolding alongside parallel back-channel talks. Tehran is reviewing a US proposal that would halt the war in three stages while leaving the most contentious issues — including the future of Iran’s enrichment programme — unresolved, and the recent missile exchanges in the Hormuz have not so far derailed the talks. Trump told ABC News this week that the engagements were “just a love tap.”
