UN Security Council to vote on monitoring Iran sanctions in September

The UN Security Council will vote in September on extending the mandate of the Group of Experts monitoring sanctions on Iran.

The vote is scheduled for September 17, and the group’s mandate expires on September 26, during the next session of the UN General Assembly.

France’s permanent representative to the UN, Jerome Bonnefon, said that Iran’s nuclear program and its failure to comply with its UN obligations will be one of the main topics of the Security Council’s discussions in September. The group of experts supports the work of the Iran Sanctions Committee.

The vote could cause a conflict with Russia and China. Both countries oppose the sanctions regime on Iran and the mechanisms that monitor its implementation. Russia and China said in March 2026 that the Security Council does not have the authority to restore the Iran Sanctions Committee and the Group of Experts.

The dispute over Iran has intensified since Britain, France and Germany triggered the UN's "snapback" mechanism in 2025. As a result, sanctions lifted under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal were reinstated. Western powers have accused Tehran of failing to meet its commitments on its nuclear program.

Iran denies seeking to build nuclear weapons. But the country's uranium enrichment program has raised concerns among the United States and its allies. Enriched uranium can be used to generate electricity or to make nuclear weapons.

Iran has sufficient foreign exchange reserves despite U.S. sanctions, the head of Iran's Central Bank, Abdolnasir Himmati, said on Sept. 1. Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tehran was taking drastic measures because it was losing the economic war.