The Obama administration said unequivocally it would veto any U.N. Security Council resolution recognizing Palestinian statehood.

“If any such resolution were put in front of the Security Council, then we would veto it,” Wendy Sherman told the Senate on Wednesday in confirmation hearings for her nomination to become undersecretary of state for policy, the department’s third-ranking position.

Until now the Obama administration has said it strongly opposes Palestinian efforts to secure statehood recognition this month at the United Nations, but Sherman’s was the first indication it would definitively use its veto to quash it.

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Sherman said the threat of the Palestinians then taking the matter to the General Assembly for a symbolic but politically potent vote still loomed, and that the United States was still working to get the parties back to the table for talks.

“The General Assembly is still of concern, and so there is very urgent work going on to try to see if there’s not another way forward,” she said.

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