Moscow, Beijing Criticize UNSC Resolution Against Iran

As the 13th day of an unprovoked war of aggression by a US-Israeli military coalition against the Islamic Republic approaches, Russia and China have denounced the UN Security Council’s passage of a unilateral resolution against Iran.

The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), represented by Bahrain, presented a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on Wednesday that denounced Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone attacks on US military bases in Jordan and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf and demanded that Tehran immediately stop such aerial attacks.

The UNSC’s two remaining members, China and Russia, abstained, while thirteen members voted in favor.

On February 28, the United States and Israel declared war on Iran, killing Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Revolution, and senior military leaders while Washington and Tehran engaged in covert nuclear talks.

Along with attacking non-military locations including hospitals and schools, the aggressors have also killed over 1,300 people, including children.

Iran maintains that it has shown restraint since the start of the forced war by restricting its assaults to US military sites and assets, mainly in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. Iran’s retaliatory attacks have successfully hit numerous places in the Israeli-occupied areas.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya stated during Wednesday’s UNSC session that a resolution denouncing the Islamic Republic would not contribute to peace in West Asia.

“Peace in [West Asia] cannot be achieved by the adopted resolution.” Nebenzya warned the council that the paper ignores the “unprovoked” character of the ongoing “aggression” by the US and Israel and that it will only worsen tensions amongst important actors in the area.

The Russian envoy emphasized that “a positive decision by the council on this document could be interpreted by unscrupulous players, and above all by those who unleashed this war as a “blessing” for continued aggressive actions against Iran.”

Nebenzya went on to stress that the so-called resolution distorts the relationship between cause and effect to such an extent that a reader who is not well-versed in international affairs might mistakenly conclude that Tehran has attacked its Arab neighbors out of animosity and on its own initiative.

Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the UN, also said the council that the conflict had “neither legitimacy nor legal basis” and that the US and Israel needed to stop their assaults in order to stop the situation in the region from getting worse.

Nebenzya and Zhang emphasized that they made unsuccessful attempts to persuade Bahrain and the US to include a section in the draft identifying the US and Israel as the warring parties.

“Only bases from which attacks are launched against our soil will be targeted, within the framework of legitimate self-defense,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stressed earlier on Wednesday in a phone call with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.