The Security Council of the United Nations is set to vote next week on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial navigation inside and around the Strait of Hormuz, diplomats said on Friday, but China, which has a veto, has made clear its opposition to any authorization of the use of force.
A meeting of the Council’s 15 members was initially scheduled for this Friday and later postponed to Saturday. Several diplomats said it was delayed to next week, with no new date announced.
The Bahraini mission to the UN did not respond immediately to a request for comment about the reason for the delay. The resolution faced resistance from China, Russia and other countries and was watered down compared with its original form.
Oil prices have risen since the United States and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, launching a conflict that has lasted for more than a month and effectively closed the Strait to maritime traffic.
The Bahraini, who is currently presiding over the Security Council, finalized a draft resolution on Thursday that would authorize ‘all necessary defensive measures’ to protect commercial navigation.
The Bahraini Foreign Minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, told the council on Thursday that a vote would take place on Friday, ‘God willing,’ and added that Bahrain expected a ‘unified position from this esteemed council.’
The Bahraini, backed in its efforts to secure a resolution by other Gulf Arab states and by Washington, had already removed an explicit reference to mandatory enforcement in an effort to overcome objections from other nations, especially Russia and China
A fourth draft of a resolution was placed under the so-called silence procedure for approval until Thursday at 13:00 (Brasília time). Diplomats said the silence was broken by China, France and Russia, but a text was subsequently finalized, or ‘put in blue’ in UN terminology, which means a vote could take place.
The finalized draft resolution authorizes measures ‘for a period of at least six months (…) and until the Council decides otherwise’.
However, in comments to the Security Council on Thursday morning, the Chinese envoy to the UN, Fu Cong, opposed the authorization of the use of force.
