US, UK, France block Russia's UN statement on Damascus consulate strike

The United States, Britain and France rejected a Russian-drafted UN Security Council statement that would have condemned an attack on Iran's embassy compound in Damascus, diplomats said. Council press statements require full consensus, and the Western trio told colleagues many facts about Monday's strike remain unclear. The strike destroyed a consular building beside the main embassy complex and killed seven members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards; Israel has not claimed responsibility and the US said it had not confirmed whether the target was a diplomatic facility.

Russia's deputy UN ambassador accused the Western states of double standards, while the European Union condemned the strike and urged respect for the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises. Iran blamed Israel and invoked the 1961 and 1963 Vienna Conventions and the 1973 convention on protection of internationally protected persons, noting those treaties declare diplomatic and consular premises inviolable but also prohibit their use for incompatible activities. as reported by Jerusalem Post