“We look forward to a unified position from this esteemed Council during the vote that will take place on the draft resolution tomorrow, God willing,” Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani told the council.
The draft resolution, presented by Bahrain as current council chair, would authorize “all necessary means” to protect shipping, while specifying that such steps should be “defensive in nature.”
Bahrain had previously dropped an explicit reference to binding enforcement in a bid to overcome objections from other nations, particularly Russia and China.
Reuters reported that the latest draft sets a six-month time limit for the measures, citing the text of the draft resolution.
The latest Bahraini resolution had been placed under a so-called silence procedure until noon (1600 GMT) on Thursday, after which it would automatically have proceeded to a vote if there were no objections, the report said.
Reuters cited a Western diplomatic source as saying the silence had been broken, by China, Russia and France.
Speaking to the Security Council, China’s UN envoy Fu Cong made clear Beijing’s opposition to authorizing member states to use force.
“(This would be) legitimizing the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences,” he said
A Security Council resolution requires at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes from its five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — meaning any of those countries could block the measure.
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