Russia and China vetoed a U.S. bid to renew the mandate of U.N. experts monitoring nuclear sanctions against Iran at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday. The move deepened tensions between the geopolitical rivals over the Trump administration’s efforts to isolate the Islamic republic.
The nations’ U.N. representatives traded pointed remarks at the Security Council meeting in New York, less than a week before a much-anticipated meeting in Washington between President Xi Jinping of China and President Trump. Fu Cong, China’s U.N. ambassador, urged Council members to avoid “double standards, political manipulation, pressure and confrontation” at the meeting. Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, condemned what he called “the destructive path of our Western colleagues, determined purely by their economic interests in exerting pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Iranian officials did not immediately address the vote or the veto.
The clash revolved around a U.S. resolution to extend the work of a panel of experts created to monitor Iran’s nuclear program and its efforts to evade international sanctions. A separate U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reported this month that it had been denied access to Iran’s nuclear facilities. Britain and France, along with eight nonpermanent members of the Council, voted in favor of the U.S. resolution, with two countries abstaining.
But China and Russia, two permanent members of the Council with veto powers, voted down the measure, saying that the sanctions had expired and that the issue should no longer be up for debate. Their representatives also urged a diplomatic end to the U.S. war with Iran and said they supported Tehran’s right to a civilian nuclear program. Jennifer Locetta, a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called the Russian and Chinese vetoes an “act of obstructionism” and said they were aimed at stifling reporting “that implicates their own activities in support of rogue regimes.” She added that the vetoes would create “a monitoring gap that only benefits the Iranian regime and those who profit from evading those measures.” In May, U.S. officials said Russia was shipping drone components to Iran via the Caspian Sea, helping Tehran rebuild its offensive abilities amid its war with the United States.
Previously, officials also said Russia was providing intelligence to Iran during the war, including satellite imagery showing the locations of warships and military personnel. The war, which began with U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran in late February, has opened a new front in the rivalry between China and the United States. Chinese purchases of Iranian oil have helped keep Iran’s economy afloat.
In August, China reacted forcefully after Mr. Trump announced a new and aggressive sanctions campaign against Iran, with Beijing ordering Chinese companies not to comply with the measures. Fu said on Thursday that U.S. decisions to pull out of a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and to wage war against the nation this year were “at the root of the current crisis.” Complicating matters for the United States on Thursday, a U.N. fact-finding mission issued a report stating that it had “found reasonable grounds to believe the United States committed a war crime by launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects.” The report cited two U.S. attacks, including a missile strike in February on an Iranian school that killed more than 150 people, mostly children.
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