Russia and China Veto U.S. Bid to Renew U.N. Monitoring of Iran Nuclear Program

Russia and China vetoed a U.S. bid to renew the mandate of U.N. experts monitoring nuclear sanctions against Iran at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday. The move deepened tensions between the geopolitical rivals over the Trump administration’s efforts to isolate the Islamic republic. The nations’ U.N. representatives traded pointed remarks at the Security Council meeting in New York, less than a week before a much-anticipated meeting in Washington between President Xi Jinping of China and President Trump. Fu Cong, China’s U.N. ambassador, urged Council members to avoid “double standards, political manipulation, pressure and confrontation” at the meeting. Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, condemned what he called “the destructive path of our Western colleagues, determined purely by their economic interests in exerting pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Iranian officials did not immediately address the vote or the veto. The clash revolved around a U.S. resolution to extend the work of a panel of experts created to monitor Iran’s nuclear program and its efforts to evade international sanctions. A separate U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reported this month that it had been denied access to Iran’s nuclear facilities. Image Fu Cong, China’s permanent representative to the U.N., addressing a Security Council meeting earlier this year. Credit... Eduardo Munoz/Reuters We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in . Want all of The Times? Subscribe .