Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani has told the United Nations Security Council he hopes for a council vote on Friday on a resolution Bahrain has drafted to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices have surged since the US and Israel struck Iran at the end of February, kicking off a conflict that has now exceeded a month and effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic.
Bahrain has presented Security Council members with a fourth draft of a resolution that would authorise “all necessary means” to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait.
It had previously dropped an explicit reference to binding enforcement in a bid to overcome objections from other nations, particularly Russia and China, and the latest draft seen by Reuters sets a six-month time limit for the steps.
“We look forward to a unified position from this esteemed Council during the vote that will take place on the draft resolution tomorrow, God willing,” Al Zayani told a meeting on Thursday of the 15-member council, which Bahrain currently chairs.
He said Iran’s “unlawful and unjustified attempt to control international navigation in the Strait of Hormuz” threatened the interests of nations and peoples around the world and “requires a decisive response.”
Reuters
