At a meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council, which is chaired this month by the US, Russia and China moved unsuccessfully to block a discussion about a committee established to oversee and enforce UN sanctions on Iran, reports Reuters.

They were overruled 11-2 with two ​abstentions.

US envoy to the UN Mike Waltz accused Moscow and Beijing of seeking to protect ​Tehran by blocking the work of the so-called 1737 Committee.

Waltz said both China and Russia did not want a functional sanctions committee “because they want to protect their partner, Iran.”

Russia’s UN ‌ambassador ⁠Vasily Nebenzya accused the US and its allies of whipping up “hysteria surrounding supposed plans Iran had to get a nuclear weapon” that were never corroborated by IAEA reports.

China’s representative, Fu Cong, called Washington the “instigator” of the ​Iranian nuclear crisis and said ​it had “resorted to blatant use ⁠of force against Iran during the negotiation process, which rendered the diplomatic efforts futile.”

Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told reporters that Iran’s nuclear programme “has always been exclusively ​peaceful,” and Tehran would not recognize any attempt to enforce sanctions against it.