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.
Ready for talks
UN sanctions on 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 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 program, without achieving any results.
"Dishonest and illegal"
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that reintroduced sanctions "are legally invalid", while President Masoud Pezeshkian says that the reintroduction of sanctions is "dishonest, unfair, and illegal".
He says at the same time that inspectors from the UN's atomic energy agency IAEA are allowed to conduct reviews in the country. This is confirmed by IAEA in a statement:
"Inspections are secret and we cannot confirm exact locations, but we can confirm that inspections have been conducted this week."
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.
