Russia resists Western bid to condemn Iran at UN over Yemen arms
The United Nations Security Council should not condemn Iran in a resolution to renew sanctions on Yemen, Russia's UN ambassador said on Wednesday, resisting a Western bid to denounce Tehran for failing to stop Yemen's Houthi group getting its missiles.
The United States 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 program if "disastrous flaws" are not fixed.
The 15-member council is negotiating a resolution, drafted by Britain in consultation with the United States and France, that would condemn Iran for violating an arms embargo on Houthi leaders and include a council commitment to take action over it.
"We don't like condemnations at all, in general," Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told Reuters.
"The resolution is about Yemen," he said. "It's a resolution about the extension of the working group (of independent experts), not about Iran. So we should concentrate on extending the working group first."
