Russia, China veto UN mandate to monitor Iran sanctions

Move ends the Security Council’s watchdog panel on Iran sanctions.

Russia and China have ended a United Nations Security Council mandate to independently monitor sanctions on Iran [File: AFP]

Russia and China have vetoed a United States-backed resolution at the United Nations Security Council that would have authorised UN experts to keep monitoring sanctions on Iran.

The resolution, shut down on Thursday, would have extended the mandate for the independent monitoring of sanctions that were reimposed last year after western powers accused Iran of violating the 2015 nuclear pact. Tehran denies it is seeking nuclear weapons or violating the agreement.

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“We strongly urge western ‌colleagues to stop their very dangerous actions on the Iran front, which threaten further complication of settling the crisis in the Persian Gulf,” Vassily ‌Nebenzia, Russia’s UN Ambassador ‌told the Security Council after the vote.

The Security Council in 2025 reinstated an independent panel of experts to monitor and report on sanctions violations by Iran, including recommending further action.

But the experts were never appointed due to disagreements among member states, leading to a lack of consensus among the 15-member Security Council.

On Thursday, 11 members voted to extend the Security Council’s mandate for monitoring sanctions, while Pakistan and Somalia abstained.

Iran’s mission to the UN thanked Russia and China for opposing what it called a “politically motivated” US draft resolution.

“Iran deeply appreciates Russia and China for their consistent and principled positions and decisive actions today,” it said in a post on X, adding that they “prevented yet another cynical attempt by the United States and its allies to abuse the Security Council for their political purposes”.

UN sanctions were officially reimposed against Iran in September 2025 when France, Germany and the United Kingdom triggered the “snapback” mechanism, reinstating six earlier Security Council resolutions sanctioning Iran’s nuclear and military programmes.

“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,” Jennifer Locetta, the deputy US Ambassador to the UN, told the council after the vote.

Earlier this week, the US barred Iran’s nuclear chief , Mohammad Eslami, from attending the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) annual conference in Vienna after the Security Council rejected a waiver to lift his travel ban, which are part of the so-called “ snapback ” sanctions targeting Iranian officials who are linked to the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Eslami and his delegation were forced to cancel their trip to the five-day conference after Austria revoked his visa, Iranian state media said.

此举终止了安理会负责监督伊朗制裁的监督小组。

俄罗斯和中国已终止其在联合国安理会独立监督对伊朗制裁的授权。[图片：法新社]

俄罗斯和中国否决了美国在联合国安理会提出的一项决议，该决议本将授权联合国专家继续监督对伊朗的制裁。

该决议于周四被否决，原本将延长对制裁措施进行独立监督的授权期限。这些制裁措施是去年西方国家指责伊朗违反2015年核协议后重新实施的。德黑兰否认其正在寻求核武器或违反该协议。

国际原子能机构指控伊朗“不遵守规定”（共3份清单，第1份）

美国阻止伊朗核问题负责人出席维也纳重要会议（共3项，此为第2项）

（共3项，这是第3项）伊朗目前受到哪些制裁？

“我们强烈敦促西方同僚停止在伊朗问题上采取的极其危险的行动，这些行动威胁到波斯湾危机的解决，使其进一步复杂化。”俄罗斯常驻联合国代表瓦西里·涅边贾在投票后对安理会表示。

2025年，安全理事会恢复了一个独立专家小组，负责监督和报告伊朗违反制裁的情况，并提出进一步行动建议。

但由于成员国之间的分歧，专家们始终未能被任命，导致15个成员国的安全理事会未能达成共识。

周四，11个成员国投票决定延长安理会监督制裁的授权，而巴基斯坦和索马里投了弃权票。

伊朗常驻联合国代表团感谢俄罗斯和中国反对其所称的“出于政治动机”的美国决议草案。

伊朗在X网站上发帖称：“伊朗对俄罗斯和中国今天所持的一贯原则立场和果断行动深表感谢”，并补充说，他们“阻止了美国及其盟友又一次企图利用安理会达到其政治目的的卑鄙行径”。

2025 年 9 月，法国、德国和英国启动了“快速恢复制裁”机制，联合国正式恢复了对伊朗的制裁，恢复了此前安理会六项制裁伊朗核计划和军事计划的决议。

“如果没有一个独立的专家小组，安理会就失去了对违反制裁行为进行公正、基于证据的报告的主要来源，从而造成了监督空白，而这只会让伊朗政权和那些从规避这些措施中获利的人受益，”美国驻联合国副大使詹妮弗·洛塞塔在投票后告诉安理会。

本周早些时候，美国禁止伊朗核问题负责人穆罕默德·伊斯兰米出席在维也纳举行的联合国国际原子能机构（IAEA）年会。此前，安理会拒绝了美国提出的解除其旅行禁令的豁免申请。这些旅行禁令是所谓的“快速恢复”制裁的一部分，旨在制裁与伊朗核计划和弹道导弹计划有关的伊朗官员。

伊朗国家媒体报道称，奥地利吊销了伊斯兰米的签证，导致他和他的代表团被迫取消了为期五天的会议行程。