UN Security Council plans a vote on Iran 'snapback' sanctions ahead of
deadline
[September 19, 2025]
By FARNOUSH AMIRI
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on a
resolution Friday on whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran over its
nuclear program, as European officials warn Tehran that time is running
out to come to a diplomatic resolution ahead of next week's annual
United Nations gathering of world leaders.
The resolution put forth by South Korea, the current president of the
15-member council, would require at least nine votes to halt the
sanctions from taking effect at the end of the month as outlined by
Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
Diplomats have indicated that, despite differing views, there is not
enough support to avoid all sanctions against Iran without any
conditions.
France, Germany and the United Kingdom moved last month to trigger the “
snapback mechanism,” which automatically reimposes all U.N. sanctions
that were in effect before the nuclear deal. Those penalties included a
conventional arms embargo, restrictions on ballistic missile
development, asset freezes, travel bans and a ban on producing
nuclear-related technology.
The process is designed to be veto-proof unless the U.N.'s most powerful
body agrees to stop it.
Over the last several weeks, intensified diplomacy between Iran and the
European countries has taken place, but without a resolution so far and
indications that sanctions were likely.
When asked in an interview Thursday on Israel’s Channel 12 whether
“snapback” was a done deal, French President Emmanuel Macron said, “Yes,
I think so because the latest news we had from the Iranians are not
serious.”
German and European Union leaders had warned Iran in a call Wednesday
that it had yet to take the necessary action to stop the reimposition of
sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which is already reeling from a
12-day war and a decades-long financial crisis.
“The window for finding a diplomatic solution on Iran’s nuclear issue is
closing really fast,” the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said in a
statement. “Iran must show credible steps towards addressing the demands
of France, U.K. and Germany, and this means demonstrating full
cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and allowing
inspections of all nuclear sites without delay.”
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In a statement issued hours later, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi again asserted that the reimposition of U.N. sanctions was
“lacking any legal or logical justification.”
He also pointed to the fact that Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog
earlier reached a deal mediated by Egypt to grant the IAEA access to
all Iranian nuclear sites and for Tehran to report on the
whereabouts of all its nuclear material.
Details of the agreement were not immediately released. In an
address last week to his agency’s board of governors in Vienna, IAEA
Director Rafael Grossi said the document “provides for a clear
understanding for the procedures of inspection notifications and
their implementation.”
The agreement “includes all facilities and installations in Iran and
it also contemplates the required reporting on all the attacked
facilities including the nuclear material present at those,” Grossi
added, noting it will “open the way for the respective inspections
and access” without specifying when that would happen.
A 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June saw both the
Israelis and the Americans bomb Iranian nuclear sites, throwing into
question the status of Tehran’s stockpile of uranium enriched nearly
to weapons-grade levels.
Using the “snapback” mechanism will likely heighten tensions between
Iran and the West. It’s unclear how Iran will respond, given that in
the past, officials have threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty, potentially following North Korea, which
abandoned the treaty in 2003 and then built atomic weapons.
___
Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates, and Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed to this
report.
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