The UN Security Council will vote Friday morning on a draft resolution concerning the snapback of sanctions on Iran, a process initiated after European governments declared the country in significant non-performance of the 2015 nuclear deal.
South Korea, as Council president this month, placed the text in blue earlier in September. It contains a single operative paragraph affirming that past sanctions remain terminated, meaning adoption would preserve relief measures under resolution 2231.
European ministers said in an August 28 letter that Iran’s actions left no credible alternative to triggering the mechanism. They pointed to more than 8,400 kilograms of enriched uranium—forty times the agreed limit—including several hundred kilograms enriched to 60 percent. “Iran has yet to take the reasonable and precise actions necessary to reach an extension of resolution 2231,” the German Foreign Office said Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the E3 move while stressing continued room for diplomacy in late August. The United States remains available for direct engagement with Iran in “furtherance of a peaceful, enduring resolution to the Iran nuclear issue,” Rubio said.
Council divisions
China, Russia, and Pakistan are expected to support the draft resolution. Denmark, France, Greece, Panama, Slovenia, the Republic of Korea, the UK, and the US are unlikely to back it, leaving the text short of the nine votes needed for passage. Even if it reached that threshold, the US is expected to veto.
If no resolution is adopted, sanctions suspended since 2015 will automatically return at the end of the 30-day window on September 28. That would reinstate restrictions on uranium enrichment, arms, finance, and shipping linked to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
Negotiations may continue during the UN General Assembly’s high-level week, where China and Russia have circulated an alternative draft extending the deal until April 2026.
