The United Nations Security Council has voted against a resolution drafted by Russia and China to delay by six months the reimposition of sanctions on Iran.

In a 4-9 vote, with two abstentions, world leaders on Friday opted to reimpose sanctions owing to Iran’s nuclear programme. The sanctions are set to snap back as of 8pm in New York on Saturday [00:00 GMT on Sunday].

France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have accused Tehran of violating the 2015 deal geared to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.

Russian and Chinese diplomats on Friday pushed for the Security Council to delay the return of sanctions, but they failed to sway enough of the other members.

Russia’s deputy UN envoy, Dmitry Polyanskiy, told the chamber that Iran had done all it could to accommodate Europeans, but

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