Russia and China Obstruct UN Action on Iran

Russia and China continue to obstruct the work of the United Nations as part of their collaboration with the Iranian regime, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz.

Russia and China continue to obstruct the work of the United Nations as part of their collaboration with the Iranian regime, said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz.On September 19, 2025, the UN Security Council voted to reinstate six previously-suspended Security Council resolutions relating to Iran.This means that “all member states of the United Nations should be implementing an arms embargo against Iran, banning the transfer and trade of missile technology, and freezing relevant financial assets in line with the robust UN sanctions that had been in place before 2015 and have now been snapped back into place,” said Ambassador Waltz.“The UN provisions to be re-imposed are. . .narrowly-scoped to address the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear, missile, and conventional arms programs and Iran’s ongoing support for terrorism.”“Iran had ample opportunity to prevent this outcome,” declared Ambassador Waltz. “France, the United Kingdom, and Germany offered to extend the so-called snapback mechanism if Iran were to account for its highly enriched uranium stockpile; if Iran would comply with [International Atomic Energy Agency] obligations that were already mandatory under the [Non-Proliferation Treaty]; and if Iran would resume direct diplomacy with the United States. All of those options were put on the table in good faith for Iran, and all of them were rejected,” said Ambassador Waltz.Iran has remained defiant. The recent IAEA Director General’s report reiterated that Iran is the only state in the world without nuclear weapons to have produced and accumulated uranium enriched up to 60 percent. The same report states that for over eight months now, Iran has refused to provide the IAEA with updated information on or access to this highly enriched uranium stockpile or other previously declared low enriched uranium stocks at facilities affected by military strikes in June 2025.“The truth of the matter is that Russia and China. . .want to protect their partner, Iran, and continue to maintain defense cooperation that is now once again prohibited,” said Ambassador Waltz.Both countries have sustained military trade ties. In 2022, Russia began by buying Iranian drones in violation of UN Resolution 2231, which imposed time bound restrictions on Iran’s nuclear and conventional arms activity. Russia has also acquired close range ballistic missiles from Iran and provided Iran with attack helicopters earlier this year, in violation of Resolution 1929, which imposed even more sanctions against the regime’s nuclear program.“All of this while Iran continues to evade sanctions, fire ballistic missiles and drones at civilians in the region and attack civilian shipping in the Gulf and wreak havoc in the Strait of Hormuz,” noted Ambassador Waltz.In spite of Russia and China’s obstructionism, the United States will continue to work to ensure Iran can no longer hold the world hostage with its missile, drone, and nuclear programs.