UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday failed to adopt a resolution that would extend the current arms embargo against Iran.

The draft resolution, tabled by the United States, failed to get the required nine votes in favor for adoption.

Besides the United States, only the Dominican Republic voted in favor of the draft. China and Russia voted against the text, and the remaining 11 Security Council members, including the European allies of the United States, abstained.

Under Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the six powers of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, the arms embargo against Iran expires on Oct. 18, 2020. The U.S. draft sought to extend the embargo indefinitely until the Security Council decides otherwise.

The four-paragraph U.S. draft was already a watered-down version. An earlier version, which was introduced in June, sought the authorization of vessel inspections and weapons seizures as well as a travel ban and assets freeze, according to diplomats.

Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said the voting result on Friday once again shows that unilateralism receives no support, and bullying will fail. Any attempt to place one's own interest above the common interests of the international community is a dead end.

In recent years, in pursuing unilateralism and "America First," the United States has abandoned its international obligations, and withdrawn from multilateral agreements and international organizations, shattering its own credibility, Zhang said in an explanation of vote.

China urges the United States to abandon unilateralism, and stop unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, he said, and the United States should adopt a reasonable and realistic attitude, and return to the right track of observing the Iran nuclear deal and Security Council Resolution 2231.

The United States, which unilaterally announced its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, has repeatedly claimed it will invoke the "snapback" mechanism within the Security Council should its draft resolution fail to pass, Zhang said.

Having withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal, the United States is no longer a participant of the deal and therefore ineligible to demand the Security Council invoke a snapback, he said.

The overwhelming majority of the Security Council members believe that the U.S. attempt has no legal basis. Should the United States have its way in disregard of international opinion, its attempt is doomed to fail again, he said.

Under Resolution 2231, any participant state to the Iran nuclear deal can notify the Security Council about an issue that it considers a significant violation of the agreement. The UN sanctions in place before the adoption of Resolution 2231 in July 2015 would then resume 30 days after the notification, unless the Security Council adopts a resolution to decide otherwise.