Washington has suffered a setback as the United Nations Security Council has resoundingly rejected a bid by the United States to extend a global arms embargo on Iran.
Eleven members on the 15-member body, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, abstained from the vote. Russia and China strongly opposed extending the 13-year ban.
The US got support only from the Dominican Republic for its resolution to indefinitely extend the embargo in the Security Council vote on Friday, leaving it far short of the minimum nine “yes” votes required for adoption.
The 13-year ban is due to expire on October 18 under a 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers.
Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, announced the defeat of the resolution ahead of a very brief virtual council meeting to reveal the vote.
“The Security Council’s failure to act decisively in defense of international peace and security is inexcusable,” he said in a statement.
Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the UN, said in a statement that the result “once again shows that unilateralism receives no support and bullying will fail”.
Washington could now follow through on a threat to trigger a return of all UN sanctions on Iran using a provision in the nuclear deal, known as snapback, even though US President Donald Trump had unilaterally abandoned the accord in 2018.
In a statement after the vote, US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft said Washington has “every right to initiate” the snapback mechanism, and added: “In the coming days, the United States will follow through on that promise to stop at nothing to extend the arms embargo.”