NEW YORK — Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution at the UN Security Council on Thursday that sought to extend the mandate of the Panel of Experts supporting the 1737 Iran Sanctions Committee, delivering a strategic blow to Washington’s push to revive multilateral sanctions pressure on Tehran. 
Iran’s UN mission swiftly welcomed the outcome, expressing “deep appreciation” to Moscow and Beijing for their defense of the UN Charter and international law.
The draft received 11 votes in favor, with Somalia and Pakistan abstaining. But the negative votes of two permanent members were sufficient to block adoption, leaving the Panel of Experts without a

 of the area, preventing any enemy gathering or movement in the Bab al-Mandab region and the western coast,” the sources said.
Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said Thursday that Saudi military bases and energy infrastructure remain legitimate targets until attacks and restrictions on Yemen end. In a speech ahead of Friday’s rallies, he called on Yemenis to demonstrate “in defense of Islamic honor and to confront the unjust aggression and blockade”.
Al-Houthi rejected Saudi allegations that Yemen targeted Mecca, describing them as a “great slander” and calling the Saudi regime “the pharaoh of the age, the slanderer and liar, and the enemy responsible for inciting strife and conspiracies among the nation”. 
He reiterated that Yemen will not forget its central cause of Palestine and will not abandon its religious and moral duty toward the Palestinian people and the holy sites.
On Friday, hundreds of thousands gathered in Saada province and other locations across Yemen for marches titled “Supporting the Armed Forces, Matching Siege with Siege, and Exposing the Lie of Targeting Mecca”. Participants raised Yemeni flags and copies of the Qur’an, chanting slogans of freedom.
Sa’ada governor Muhammed Awad said Yemenis “are on the path to Al-Quds, on the path of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him), on the path of the Qur’an, and on the path of the oppressed whom they support with their blood”. 
The rally statement affirmed that “all lives, souls, and property of the Yemeni people are a sacrifice for Mecca and the Islamic holy sites,” rejecting the accusation of targeting Mecca as a “dangerous and great lie”.
The coastal campaign began in early September when Yemeni forces took the Hays and Al-Khawkhah districts on September 9, seized the port of Mocha the next day, and by September 11 had entered Dhubab and taken Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The offensive covered approximately 5,400 square kilometers and positioned Ansarullah at the threshold of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
The advance has put critical pressure on Saudi Arabia by threatening the last mercenary strongholds of Ma’rib and Ta’izz. Riyadh’s dependence on Washington has been exposed as the United States declined Saudi requests for direct air strikes and pursued diplomatic channels instead, including unannounced talks with Ansarullah representatives in Muscat.
The gains at Bab al-Mandab, combined with Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, give Tehran and its allies influence over two critical maritime choke points through which roughly a quarter of global oil supply passes. Shipping traffic through Hormuz has already reached its lowest level in months, pushing oil prices above $107 a barrel.