DUBAI, November 21. /TASS/. The US has essentially permitted Israel to continue slaughtering civilians in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon by executing its veto power in the UN Security Council when voting on a ceasefire resolution, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.

"This disgraceful veto not only marks another failure of UNSC to uphold its Charter based mandate but also serves as a US granted license for occupying regime to continue its carnage in Gaza and Lebanon with impunity. This <...> entails United States international responsibility for complicity in atrocity crimes," the diplomat wrote on the X social network.

According to Baghaei, this situation is yet another example of the UN Security Council’s inability to fulfill its functions. "Despite overwhelming global support for, and 14 #UNSC members' backing of #Gaza #ceasefire, the outgoing Democratic US administration vetoed the draft resolution, revealing its full contempt for innocent lives & regional peace," the Iranian diplomat emphasized.

On Wednesday, the US used its veto power in the UN Security Council to block the draft resolution on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, prepared by the ten non-permanent members of the Security Council, demanding for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. 14 out of 15 Security Council members voted for the document. This is the fifth time that the United States has blocked a resolution that calls for a ceasefire in Gaza since the beginning of the escalation in October of last year. The US also spoke against Palestine becoming the UN’s full-fledged member.

The situation in the Middle East escalated dramatically when on October 7, 2023, armed Hamas supporters from the Gaza Strip penetrated Israeli territory, killing residents of border settlements and seizing more than 240 hostages. In retaliation, Israel launched a military operation in the enclave in order to destroy the military and political structures of Hamas and liberate all those hostages. The hostilities in the Gaza Strip continue to this day.