The United Nations Security Council is expected to put a resolution to a vote next week that would authorize the use of force to break the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
A meeting of the 15 Security Council member states to vote on the Hormuz resolution was originally scheduled for Tuesday but had already been postponed once to Wednesday. However, the meeting has been delayed again to next week, and an exact date has not yet been set, multiple diplomatic sources told Reuters.
Bahrain's mission to the United Nations did not immediately comment on a Reuters request for comment regarding the reason for the voting delay.
The draft resolution was led by Bahrain, the current Security Council president, with the backing of Gulf Arab states seeking to secure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
More than a month of war has continued since U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran in late February, and Iran has effectively blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy shipping route.
The draft resolution would allow member states, individually or through voluntary multinational naval cooperation frameworks, to use "all necessary defensive measures" to secure safe passage through the strait and to counter any attempts to block, obstruct, or interfere with navigation.
However, the resolution's adoption remains uncertain due to opposition from China and Russia, among others. Bahrain has somewhat softened the resolution's language to accommodate dissenting countries, including removing "enforcement" wording that had been included in the original draft.
Fu Cong, China's ambassador to the United Nations, stated his clear opposition at a Security Council meeting on Monday. "Granting member states the authority to use force under the current circumstances is tantamount to legalizing the illegal abuse of force," Fu said. "This will escalate the situation and cause serious side effects."
Meanwhile, Iran, which controls the Strait of Hormuz, has asked Russia to block the resolution's adoption, arguing that the Security Council resolution would only complicate the situation further, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Iran has maintained its position that it will continue to hold control over the strait even after the war ends. It has also recently drawn up plans to impose transit fees on ships passing through the waterway, according to reports.
For the Security Council resolution to be adopted, at least nine of the 15 member states must vote in favor, and none of the five permanent members — the United States, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia — must exercise their veto power.