United Nations sanctions on Iran are set to take effect on Sunday at 00:00 GMT.
The Russian and Chinese push to delay the return of sanctions on Iran failed at the 15-member U.N. Security Council after only four countries supported their draft resolution.
“This council does not have the necessary assurance that there is a clear path to a swift diplomatic solution,” Britain’s envoy to the United Nations, Barbara Wood, said after the vote.
“This council fulfilled the necessary steps of the snapback process set out in resolution 2231, therefore U.N. sanctions targeting Iranian proliferation will be reimposed this weekend,” she said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told a group of journalists that Iran had no intention to leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a reaction to the revival of the U.N. sanctions.
“Iran will never seek nuclear weapons … We are fully prepared to be transparent about our highly enriched uranium,” Pezeshkian said.
All U.N. sanctions on Iran are due to return after European powers, known as the E3, triggered a 30-day process accusing Tehran of violating a 2015 deal meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Nine countries voted no, while two abstained.
“The U.S. has betrayed diplomacy, but it is the E3 which have buried it,” Araqchi told the council, saying the snapback was “legally void, politically reckless and procedurally flawed.”
“Diplomacy will never die, but it will be more difficult and more complicated than before,” he told reporters after the Security Council meeting.
Reuters/Jide Johnson.