UTV | COLOMBO – The United States threatened unilateral action against Iran on Monday after Russia vetoed a western bid for the United Nations Security Council to call out Tehran for failing to prevent its weapons from falling into the hands of Yemen’s Al Houthi militia.
Following the failed vote on the British draft, the council adopted a rival Russian draft that did not mention Iran and simply renewed the UN sanctions regime on Yemen for a year.
“If Russia is going to continue to cover for Iran then the US and our partners need to take action on our own. If we’re not going to get action on the council then we have to take our own actions,” US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told reporters during a visit to Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.
Haley did not specify what kind of action could be taken.
The Russian veto was a defeat for the United States, which has been lobbying for months for Iran to be held accountable at the United Nations, while at the same time threatening to quit a 2015 deal among world powers to curb Iran’s nuclear programme if “disastrous flaws” are not fixed.
