Russia and China wanted to extend a pause for the reintroduction of sanctions by six months. But nine of the Security Council's 15 member states opposed the proposal late on Friday.
The demand to reinstate the sanctions – which were paused when Iran agreed to a cooperation agreement on, among other things, the review of the country's nuclear energy research in 2015, called JCPOA – comes mainly from France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
UN sanctions against Iranian nuclear proliferation will be reintroduced this weekend. We are ready for further discussions with Iran on a diplomatic solution to the concerns about the nuclear program, said the British UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward at Friday's meeting.
The three countries have held talks with Iran about a new agreement on the review of the country's nuclear energy program, without achieving any results.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that reintroduced sanctions are "legally invalid".
President Donald Trump left the JCPOA agreement during his first term. Iran discontinued cooperation with the UN's atomic energy agency IAEA in connection with the war between Iran and Israel, where the US bombed Iran's nuclear facilities.
