NEW YORK _ A U.S. effort to extend an expiring arms embargo on Iran was voted down at the United Nations Security Council on Friday evening, setting the stage for a diplomatic crisis pitting the Trump administration against both allies and adversaries.
"The Security Council's failure to act decisively in defense of international peace and security is inexcusable," Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a statement after the vote. "The Security Council rejected direct appeals to extend the arms embargo from numerous countries in the Middle East endangered by Iran's violence."
The resolution's failure means the U.S. may deliver as soon as next week on its threat to "snap back" international sanctions on Iran that were eased as part of the 2015 agreement to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Every other party to the multinational deal, including the U.S.'s European allies, say the Americans _ who have already imposed extensive sanctions of their own _ can't also invoke the process for reimposing international sanctions from an accord that President Donald Trump quit two years ago.
"What the Americans hoped to create was a situation where China and Russia looked like spoilers by vetoing the resolution," said Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group. "But instead the vast bulk of council narratives are not playing along with the U.S."
Brian Hook, the outgoing U.S. envoy for Iran, said this week that the U.S. has circulated a six-page legal memo justifying the American right to invoke the mechanism, but diplomats from Europe, Russia and China aren't convinced.
Diplomats said there were still numerous efforts afoot to avert the American snapback threat. Europeans are floating ideas including a temporary extension of the arms embargo that expires in October, but they said they need more time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proposed holding an online conference with leaders of the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany and Iran to discuss the future of the stalled nuclear deal.
