Iran did not participate in the United Nations vote.
Iran did not participate in the United Nations vote while the resolution condemning Russia’s illegal action in the annexation of Ukrainian territory was passed with a strong and unexpected majority. Iran was among the few countries that did not participate in the vote on this resolution. Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s representative at the United Nations, condemned the resolution and had asked various countries to vote against it.
He described the resolution as extortion and hush money by the West. Thirty-five countries abstained from voting on the resolution, with China and India leading this group. On the other hand, the vote of the Gulf Arabs and Brazil in favor of the resolution attracted a lot of attention.
In the current circumstances, such a resolution does not have enforcement guarantees, and any action by the Security Council would be vetoed by Russia. However, beyond the official condemnation by the West with this resolution, it placed various countries in a position to express their stance and make decisions regarding Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. Aligning countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Brazil was a significant achievement for the United States.
Iran, which has now been introduced by Ukrainians as one of Russia’s accomplices in the aggression against their territory, showed its meaningful silence regarding the annexation of Ukrainian territory by not participating in the vote. The future of such a policy is not very clear.