The vote — 11-2, with two abstentions from Pakistan and Colombia— took place just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an unprecedented threat that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not open the strategic waterway and make a deal before his 8 p.m. Eastern deadline. One-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes through the strait, and Iran’s stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring.
Russia and China strongly defended their opposition, both directly citing Trump’s most recent and perilous threat yet to end Iran’s civilization as confirmation that the proposal would have given U.S. and Israel “carte blanche for continued aggression,” as Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia put it.