Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a US-drafted resolution at the United Nations Security Council that sought to extend the mandate of a UN expert panel tasked with monitoring sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. The proposal received 11 votes in favour, while Russia and China voted against it and Somalia and Pakistan abstained. The vetoes blocked the resolution despite the majority of council members backing it. The vote has effectively ended the effort to continue the independent expert-monitoring mechanism at a time when divisions over Iran’s nuclear activities and the validity of UN sanctions remain deep.
What are the UN sanctions on Iran?
The sanctions currently remain in force and include measures such as freezing Iranian assets abroad, restricting arms-related transactions and imposing restrictions linked to Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
The sanctions were restored on September 27, 2025, after France, Germany and the United Kingdom invoked the “snapback” mechanism under the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran. The move brought back earlier UN Security Council sanctions and revived the sanctions committee responsible for overseeing their implementation.ย The United States had proposed extending the mandate of the expert panel for another year so that it could continue monitoring compliance and reporting suspected violations.
Why did Russia and China oppose the resolution?
Russia and China have disputed the legal basis of the sanctions’ restoration. Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reiterated Moscow’s position that the “snapback” process was unlawful and argued that the US-backed resolution seeking to prolong the expert panel was therefore “deeply flawed and did not have any legal basis.” Nebenzia also said Russia and China had urged Washington and its allies not to bring the proposal to a vote, warning that doing so would increase tensions inside the Security Council. He accused the United States of choosing confrontation instead. Russia and China have also maintained that the sanctions framework connected to the 2015 nuclear deal lost its legal basis when the relevant Security Council resolution reached its scheduled end in October 2025. Western countries have rejected that interpretation and maintain that the sanctions were restored through the snapback mechanism.
US warns of a monitoring gap
US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Jennifer Locetta said Washington was not surprised by the Russian and Chinese vetoes. She argued that the expert panel could have exposed prohibited cooperation involving Iran and its international partners. Locetta also warned that blocking the panel would create a significant gap in independent reporting on possible sanctions violations.
“Without an independent panel of experts, this council loses its principal source of impartial, evidence-based reporting on sanctions violations, creating a monitoring gap that only benefits the Iranian regime and those who profit from evading those measures,” Locetta said.
She further pointed to previous disputes over UN expert-monitoring mechanisms. In March 2024, Russia vetoed the continuation of the UN panel that monitored sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear programme. The UN sanctions regime on Mali was later terminated, while expert appointments involving Yemen and the Central African Republic have also faced delays or opposition, according to the US.
Iran thanks Russia and China
Iran’s UN mission welcomed the Russian and Chinese vetoes and thanked both countries for blocking the US-backed proposal. In a social media post, the Iranian mission said the two countries had “prevented yet another cynical attempt by the United States and its allies to abuse the Security Council for their political purposes.” Iran has consistently rejected allegations that it is pursuing nuclear weapons, while Western countries have raised concerns over the scale and level of its uranium enrichment activities.
Expert panel was never fully operational
An important complication is that the UN expert panel authorised last year never became fully operational. Although Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed members for the panel, the Security Council never approved the appointments. As a result, the sanctions-monitoring mechanism has already faced a prolonged operational gap. The latest vetoes now prevent the proposed one-year extension of the mandate.
The dispute has also contributed to a wider deadlock within the Iran sanctions committee, with council members struggling to agree on subsidiary arrangements and the composition of the monitoring mechanism.
Iran’s nuclear programme remains under international scrutiny
The dispute over sanctions monitoring comes amid continuing uncertainty surrounding Iran’s nuclear activities. The International Atomic Energy Agency has faced difficulties in independently verifying the status of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile following military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in 2025. The UN nuclear watchdog has previously reported that Iran possessed 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent purity. Uranium enriched to around 90 per cent is generally considered weapons-grade. The IAEA’s ability to verify developments inside Iran has therefore become an important part of the wider international debate over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
France explores alternative monitoring mechanism
French UN Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont defended the importance of sanctions enforcement, describing it as “a crucial instrument to encourage Iran” to return to its nuclear commitments. Following the failure of the US-backed resolution, France said it would examine ways to maintain effective monitoring and enforcement. One option under consideration is a separate monitoring arrangement involving France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, similar to the approach discussed after the UN expert panel on North Korea was abolished.
What the veto means for the sanctions
The veto does not itself remove the existing UN sanctions on Iran. The immediate impact is on the mechanism intended to independently monitor and report on their implementation. The vote therefore adds another layer to the already contentious international dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme, the legality of the snapback process and the role of the UN Security Council in enforcing sanctions.
(With inputs from AP)
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