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Iran Blasts US Veto of UN Draft Resolution on Palestine
Iran condemned on Wednesday as "unacceptable and inexplicable" the United States' veto of a UN Security Council draft resolution on sending a UN observer force to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The official IRNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi as saying that it is "indicative" of the US blatant support of the Israeli violent and repressive policies in the occupied lands."
"While the international community is seeking to use every mechanism to halt further carnage of the Palestinians, and the demand by the Palestinians on deployment of an international observer force is aimed at regaining their very basic rights, such a move by the US is not acceptable," the spokesman said.
The US veto of the resolution which seeks to restore peace and security to a sensitive region, has further disappointed the Palestinians with the international community's ability to settle the dispute, he noted.
He warned of intensified tension in the occupied lands as the "massacre of Palestinians has gained a momentum."
The acting US ambassador to the United Nations, James Cunningham, declared the veto shortly before midnight on Tuesday in the Security Council, claiming that "The United States opposed this resolution because it is unbalanced and unworkable and hence unwise."
Nine of the 15 Security Council members voted in favor of the draft, meeting the requirement for adoption of a resolution. The four Western European members abstained while Ukraine did not take part in the vote.
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