UN Security Council rejects Moscow, Beijing resolution for Iran’s sanction relief

(MENAFN) The UN Security Council has voted against a proposal backed by Moscow and Beijing that sought to extend sanctions relief for Iran by six months, clearing the path for the reimposition of restrictions on the country’s nuclear activities.

During Friday’s vote, the draft resolution garnered four votes in favor—from China, Russia, Pakistan, and Algeria—while nine countries opposed it and two abstained. As a result, sanctions that were lifted under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with major world powers will take effect again starting at midnight GMT on Saturday.

This decision follows the announcement by JCPOA signatories a month ago that they had activated the so-called “snapback mechanism,” citing Tehran’s “significant non-performance” and breaches of the deal.

Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, stated during the Security Council session that Moscow “categorically rejects” claims by the Western signatories asserting their authority to initiate the snapback process.

By opposing the extension of sanctions relief, Western nations, he argued, “definitively demonstrated that all of their assurances about their focus on arriving at a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear program issue for all of these years, were mere noise.”

US Deputy Representative Dorothy Shea praised the vote’s outcome, calling the proposed resolution “a hollow effort to relieve Iran of any accountability for its continued significant non-performance of its nuclear commitments.”

Earlier in June, the US and Israel reportedly struck Iranian nuclear facilities, claiming the operation aimed to prevent Tehran from developing an atomic weapon, while Iran continues to assert that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi cautioned on Friday that restoring sanctions could establish a “dangerous precedent,” potentially undermining the credibility of the Security Council. He described Western actions as “legally void, reckless, and null and void,” emphasizing that Tehran would “never respond to threats or pressure.”

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