Russia, China veto U.S. proposal for UN experts to keep monitoring sanctions on Iran

Russia and China vetoed a United Nations resolution on Thursday (September 17, 2026) that would have authorised UN experts to keep monitoring sanctions that were reimposed against Iran last year over its nuclear program.

The UN Security Council sanctions are still in effect, which freeze Iran’s assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize any development of Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other measures.

Using a provision in the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers France, Germany and the United Kingdom triggered the “snapback” mechanism, which reimposed the sanctions on September 27, 2025. It restored the Security Council sanctions committee and authorised a panel of UN experts to monitor implementation.

The United States drafted a resolution to extend the UN expert panel’s mandate for a year, coming as America also pursues a wider campaign to isolate Tehran from its remaining economic partners as the more than six-month-old war in Iran has hit a stalemate. The proposal was defeated by a vote of 11-2, with Somalia and Pakistan abstaining, because of the Russian and Chinese vetoes.

Since Israel and the U.S. struck Iran’s nuclear sites in June 2025, UN nuclear inspectors have been unable to verify the status of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. According to the UN nuclear watchdog, Iran maintained a stockpile of 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.

Iran’s UN mission thanked China and Russia for vetoing the resolution, saying on social media that the countries “prevented yet another cynical attempt by the United States and its allies to abuse the Security Council for their political purposes.”

U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN Jennifer Locetta said the United States wasn’t surprised by the vetoes because the experts “would have shined the light” on prohibited cooperation between Iran and its partners.

She said the vetoes are part of a broader effort to prevent expert monitoring of sanctions, and even the appointment of panel members, “to stifle reporting that implicates their own activities in support of rogue regimes.”

In March 2024, a Russian veto ended UN monitoring of sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program. In Mali, sanctions were terminated, and Locetta said that in Yemen and the Central African Republic expert appointments have been delayed or refused.

While the panel of experts for Iran was authorized a year ago and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres proposed members, they were never approved.

“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,” Ms. Locetta warned.

Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia reiterated Moscow’s claim that the “snapback” of sanctions against Iran was illegal, and therefore the resolution to extend the mandate of the panel of experts “was deeply flawed and did not have any legal basis.”

Russia and China had strongly urged the U.S. and its allies not to put the resolution to a vote, which would only increase tensions in the council, Nebenzia said, but Washington “decided to opt for confrontation.”

French UN Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont, the current council president, said implementing sanctions is “a crucial instrument to encourage Iran” to return to its nuclear obligations. France will study how to ensure sanctions are enforced, he said.

One possibility would be to follow what happened after the North Korea panel of experts was abolished: establishing a monitoring team that includes France, Germany, the UK and the United States.