A last-ditch effort to stave off the reimplementation of U.N. sanctions on Iran failed on Friday, with the U.N. Security Council voting down a Russia-China resolution that would have extended by six months the Iran nuclear deal signed under the Obama administration in 2015.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, is set to expire on Oct. 18. Once it does, its signatories can no longer claim Iran to be in violation of the agreement and will lose the ability to call for what is commonly known as “snapback” sanctions.

Those sanctions, including an arms embargo and global assets freeze, a ban on the sale of materials that could be used in uranium enrichment, a ballistic-missile development ban and a travel ban for select Iranian individuals and entities, existed before the accord w

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