Alwaght-Britain has been humiliated at the UN Security Council after its draft resolution aimed at pressuring Iran over alleged weapons supplies to Yemeni fighters was blocked by a Russian veto.
Instead, The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a Russia-tabled draft that will see a technical extension of sanctions against Yemen.
All 15 UNSC members voted on Monday in favor of the draft resolution on Yemen, put forward by Russia as a compromise after it vetoed a rival, “antagonizing “draft submitted by the UK, that also drew criticism from China.
Earlier, the UK-backed resolution gained 11 favorable votes at the 15-member Security Council but was halted by Russia's veto.
"We cannot concur with uncorroborated conclusions and evidence which requires verification and discussions within the sanctions committee," Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council.
“There is a grave danger in toying with geopolitical maps, including with the use of the most volatile material, namely relations within the Islamic world, relations between the Sunnis and the Shiite,” he warned, adding that its approval could have triggered “dangerous, destabilizing ramifications” for the whole region.
Earlier in the month, Britain circulated a draft resolution that would renew sanctions on Yemen for another year and also “condemns” Iran for allegedly breaching the 2015 arms embargo on the country by "failing to take the necessary measures to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer" of short-range ballistic missiles, UAVs and other military equipment to Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement.
The Ansarullah movement has been defending Yemen against a bloody Saudi-led military campaign, which was launched in 2015 with the help of the US and the UK to reinstall the country’s former Riyadh-friendly regime.
Nearly 14,000 Yemenis, mostly women, children and the elderly, have been killed since the onset of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against the impoverished state.
