Iran17 September, 20263 min read
China And Russia Veto US Resolution Extending Iran Sanctions Panel Until September 2027
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Russia and China veto US draft to extend Iran sanctions monitoring panel until September 2027 UNSC vote: 11 in favor, 2 against, 2 abstentions; Pakistan and Somalia
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UN veto ends Iran panel
The UN Security Council failed to adopt a US-drafted resolution to extend the mandate of the 1737 committee’s Iran sanctions panel of experts until September 2027 after China and Russia vetoed the measure, with 11 votes in favor and two abstentions. China’s permanent representative Fu Cong told the Council that "Security Council Resolution 2231 expired on Oct 18, 2025, and the Security Council has ended its consideration of the Iranian nuclear issue," arguing that forcing restoration of sanctions would undermine the Council’s unity and credibility. The draft sought to extend the mandate of the expert panel that had been suspended under Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted in 2015 to endorse the Iran nuclear deal.
The dispute centers on the “snapback” mechanism triggered by the UK, France and Germany last year, which they argued restored previous UN sanctions and revived the committee and its expert panel, while China and Russia said Resolution 2231 expired in October 2025. In a separate account, Mehr News Agency quoted Kazem Jalali on X saying the US effort to reimpose sanctions on Iran “was once again backfired by the vetoes of Russia and China.”
Iran calls it history
Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations expressed appreciation for Russia and China for vetoing the US-sponsored anti-Iran resolution, and Tasnim reported that Iranian Ambassador Jala li wrote on X that the persistent US attempts “have again failed thanks to the Russian and Chinese veto.” Tasnim also reported that the American anti-Iran resolution, aimed at extending the mandate of the Expert Team (PoE) of the 1737 Committee, was proposed on Thursday local time, September 17, 2026, and was not adopted despite receiving 11 votes in favor. The vote breakdown described by Tasnim had Russia and China voting against in the 15-member Security Council while Somalia and Pakistan abstained, with the remaining 11 member states voting in favor.
In a separate framing, Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed said the American draft received the support of 11 states, compared to a Russian and Chinese veto, with Pakistan and Somalia abstaining, and described disagreements over the legality of activating the “snapback” mechanism. Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed further reported that on September 10, 2026, the IAEA Board of Governors urged Iran to address its non-compliance with the safeguards agreement and referred the matter to the Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly.
Oversight gap and next moves
Euronews said the veto defeated the US-drafted resolution by a vote of 11-2, with Somalia and Pakistan abstaining, and described the result as removing oversight without lifting the underlying sanctions. Euronews quoted US deputy ambassador Jennifer Locetta warning that "Without an independent panel of experts, this council loses its principal source of impartial, evidence-based reporting on sanctions violations, creating a monitoring gap". Euronews also said the UN Security Council sanctions were reimposed on 27 September last year under the snapback mechanism of the 2015 nuclear deal, freezing Iranian assets abroad, restricting arms deals with Tehran and penalising the development of its ballistic missile programme.
In parallel, El Eco reported that Russia and China vetoed a US-led resolution to extend the expert panel’s mandate for another year and said the expert panel’s mandate was set to expire on September 26 of next year. El Eco added that Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf backed the veto and said Russia and China had rejected what he described as a “political abuse” of the Security Council.