Russia has circulated a UN Security Council draft resolution to extend the implementation period of Resolution 2231 by six months in a bid to postpone the looming reimposition of sanctions on Iran under the resolution's snapback mechanism.
"The Russian resolution was circulated, but not put in blue yet," the French mission to the UN confirmed to Iran International.
Britain, France, and Germany have warned Iran they would restore UN sanctions by the end of August by triggering the mechanism unless Tehran reengages in talks on its nuclear program immediately and produced concrete results.
The new draft resolution proposed by Russia at the UN Security Council calls for a six-month technical extension of Resolution 2231, which underpins the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
The draft, seen by Iran International, seeks to delay until 18 April 2026 the expiration of the resolution’s ten-year term, with the possibility of further extensions.
According to the text, the Council would suspend "any substantive consideration of matters related to resolution 2231 and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)" during the extension, while urging all original participants to resume negotiations immediately.
The resolution was first reported by UK-based news outlet Amwaj.
The report came shortly after a phone call between Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and on the eve of Iran's nuclear talks with Europe in Geneva.
In the call, Putin expressed optimism that discussions on the “snapback” mechanism would yield a “desirable result,” according to Tehran’s readout.
Iran's stance on deadline extension
In July negotiations with Iran held in Turkey, the three European powers reportedly proposed sidestepping a confrontation by agreeing to a six-month extension of their "snapback" authority in return for a set of concessions.
Last week, Iran's top security official rejected the European proposal for the extension of the August deadline, saying, "Some countries have requested a six-month extension [of snapback deadline], but Iran does not agree."
"We had an agreement that was supposed to be completed within 10 years; it's not meant to be extended repeatedly. This is just rule-twisting, and we do not accept it," Ali Larijani said in an interview with the Supreme Leader's website.
However, a Friday report by Axios said Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi expressed some openness to the extension of the snapback during a phone call with his European counterparts on the same day.
Araghchi, however, has stressed this is for the United Nations Security Council to decide, not for Iran,” the report said citing an unnamed source.
European officials have pressed Iran to re-engage with Washington and cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to avert the return of sanctions. EU foreign policy chief warned last week that Iran’s cooperation was crucial as the deadline neared.
Despite Western pressure, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Sunday rejected calls by moderates in Tehran for direct talks with the United States, insisting that hostility from Washington could not be resolved through negotiations.
