According to Khabaronline, an Iranian news agency, The meeting is scheduled to take place Tuesday morning local time in New York. Diplomatic observers anticipate that the Security Council will once again become an arena for sharp divisions between two camps: on one side, Russia, China, and countries aligned with Iran’s position; on the other, the United States and several Western members of the Council.
Expectations suggest that, similar to previous meetings, the session is unlikely to produce any concrete outcome.
UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which provided the legal framework for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), officially expired on October 18, 2025. Iran, Russia, and China consider the expiration of the resolution as marking the formal removal of Iran’s nuclear issue from the Security Council’s agenda.
In contrast, the United States and the three European countries argue—based on their interpretation of the JCPOA—that the so-called “snapback” mechanism can still be triggered to reinstate UN sanctions, a claim that has created a serious legal rift within the Council.
Today’s meeting comes after the UN Secretary-General, at the request of Western countries, submitted his twentieth and final report on the implementation of Resolution 2231.
The report reviews correspondence received from UN member states and summarizes the latest findings of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding its monitoring and verification activities in Iran. It also reflects the deep divisions among Security Council members over the legal status of the resolution following its expiration.
According to the report, Iran, Russia, and China emphasized in a joint letter that, under paragraph 8 of Resolution 2231, all provisions of the resolution terminated after October 18, 2025, and that the Security Council no longer has a mandate to consider Iran’s nuclear file. The three European countries, however, have sought to keep the issue alive in the Council by invoking the snapback mechanism.
These disputes have been further complicated by recent security developments. Following a 12-day military confrontation involving Iran on one side and Israel and the United States on the other, European countries, alongside Washington, claimed to have activated the snapback mechanism—an action Iran has rejected as legally baseless and as contributing to what it describes as a new “legal confusion” within the Security Council.
In official letters to the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General, Iran has described the Israeli and US military strikes on its nuclear facilities and civilian areas as clear violations of the UN Charter and international law, stressing Washington’s direct responsibility for the attacks.
These claims were reinforced by later remarks from the US president acknowledging the United States’ direct role in the operations.
Against this backdrop, today’s Security Council meeting is widely seen less as a step toward a binding decision and more as a reflection of the deep political and legal divisions among Council members over the future of Iran’s nuclear dossier and the status of Resolution 2231 within the UN system.
Your Comment