Iran’s best ally, China, announced Thursday that they will vote against any proposal by the United Nations Security Council that would extend the arms embargo on the Islamic Republic.
“We don’t agree with the US in pushing for the extension of the arms embargo against Iran in the Security Council,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Webin said Thursday. “All the provisions of Resolution 2231, including the relevant arrangements with regard to arms embargo, should be implemented in earnest.”
A day earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US will officially submit a resolution asking the UN security board to extend the Iranian nuclear arms embargo.
“The Security Council’s mission is to maintain ‘international peace and security’,” Pompeo told reporters Wednesday.
“The Council would make an absolute mockery of that mission if it allowed the number-one state sponsor of terrorism to buy and sell weapons freely,” he added.
The US draft resolution needs nine out of 15 favorable votes in order to pass, but all five permanent member nations including China, France, Russia, the UK and the US must vote in favor of the resolution. This means if China or Russia issue a veto, US resolution will fail.
Both Russia and China are expected to veto any resolution against Tehran.
