service iptables start
iptables: Applying firewall rules: iptables-restore: line 40 failed
[FAILED]
vi /etc/sysconfig/iptables
Line 40 is just:
COMMIT
It turned out that the correct iptables modules were not enabled for the OpenVZ container, enabling and rebooting the container fixed it.
iptables, applying, firewall, restore, vi, etc, sysconfig, modules, enabled, openvz, container, enabling, rebooting,