The Security Council, invoking Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, offered Iraq one final chance to implement Resolution 660 (1990) which demanded that Iraq withdraw its forces unconditionally from Kuwait and return them to the positions in which they were located on 1 August 1990, the day before the invasion of Kuwait began.

[1] China, which had usually vetoed such resolutions authorizing action against a state, abstained in exchange for a promise from the US government that sanctions would be eased,[2] and that the Chinese foreign minister would be received in the White House.

[9] US diplomats told Yemeni officials it "was the most expensive no vote you ever cast"—referring to ceasing more than $70 million of US government foreign aid to Yemen.

[10] Burns Weston, a professor of international law at Iowa University, argued that Resolution 678 set a "dubious precedent" by backing away from the "peaceful and humanitarian purposes and principles" enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

Weston said it did this by failing to vest in the UN the responsibility and accountability for the military force that was deployed to the region, but instead allowing the United States to manage it.