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The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday failed to adopt a resolution backed by Bahrain that called for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, following President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy Iran.
According to the U.N News., the resolution failed due to two negative votes from Security Council member nations, Russia and China.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said that his nation, along with China, would propose an alternative resolution, noting, “Our draft will be concise, equitable and balanced.”
Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong explained his nation’s negative vote on the resolution, as well, stating that the draft did not present a “full picture” of the situation in the Middle East, nor did it “capture the root causes” of the conflict.
“This war should never have happened,” he stated.
The resolution, had it passed, was significantly softened throughout drafting, but it would have at least allowed countries to simply utilize defense assets to secure the Strait for safe passage, per the Associated Press.
The broad closure of the Strait of Hormuz is a sticking point in the war against Iran. So far, it has remained unsafe for most commercial vessels to pass through the corridor, therefore slowing energy transportation (oil, gas, fertilizers, and more) in the Middle East to a near-halt, affecting Europe, Asia, and beyond.
According to TIME, a global oil shortage has already begun, with Italy and the UK, for example, already running low on jet fuel – affecting baseline airline flight flow. Other nations, like South Korea and Australia, are already encouraging their citizens to cut back on travel and conserve fuel.
On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump threatened civilizational annihilation against Iran if it failed to acquiesce to American demands.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” the president wrote in a statement. “I don’t want it to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”
U.N. Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric expressed concerns about escalating rhetoric amid the war following President Trump’s statement.
“The Secretary General is very troubled by the statements that we’ve heard yesterday and again this morning: the statement suggesting that an entire people or an entire civilization may be paid to bear the consequences of political and military decisions,” Dujarric said.