Iran: Briefing on the 1737 Sanctions Committee
Tomorrow morning (September 10), the Security Council is scheduled to hold an open briefing on the work of the 1737 Sanctions Committee concerning Iran. France—the Council’s president in September—intends to convene the meeting under the “Non-Proliferation” agenda item. No briefer is expected.
Background
The 1737 Sanctions Committee was established by resolution 1737 of 23 December 2006, with a requirement to report to the Council every 90 days on its activities. Prior to the agreement on the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear programme, which the Council endorsed through resolution 2231 of 20 July 2015, these briefings took place every three months under the “Non-Proliferation” agenda item.
Resolution 2231 suspended all prior sanctions resolutions on Iran, including resolution 1737, rendering defunct the 1737 Committee and its reporting requirement. Subsequently, the Council held biannual briefings on the implementation of resolution 2231, which also took place under the “Non-Proliferation” agenda item.
In August 2025, the “E3” parties to the JCPOA—France, Germany, and the UK—triggered the deal’s “snapback” mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran that the JCPOA and resolution 2231 had suspended. China and Russia disputed their legal and procedural authority to do so and argued that all sanctions were permanently lifted on 19 October 2025, when the JCPOA and resolution 2231 were originally set to expire. On that date—absent an activation of the snapback—resolution 2231 stated that the Council would end its consideration of the nuclear file and “Non-Proliferation” would be removed from the list of matters of which the Council is seized. China and Russia—as well as Iran—contend that this has now happened.
By contrast, the E3 and like-minded Council members have argued that the triggering of the snapback mechanism was valid and therefore only specific paragraphs of resolution 2231 related to the suspension of sanctions have expired. As such, they maintain that all previous UN sanctions measures on Iran have been reactivated and that the 1737 Sanctions Committee and its supporting Panel of Experts (PoE) have been restored.
In March and June, the US and Colombian presidencies, respectively, included the Committee’s 90-day briefing in the Council’s programme of work for the month, prompting China and Russia to block the programme’s adoption on both occasions. Since the dispute over the Committee has also prevented agreement on the allocation of subsidiary body chairs, each president assumed the functions of Committee chair and circulated a draft report on the Committee’s activities under a no-objection procedure (NOP). China and Russia objected both times. As a result, there was no Committee report for the presidencies to present at the briefings. The meetings nonetheless were convened under the “Non-Proliferation” agenda item, as was the 10 July briefing on the Secretary-General’s biannual report on the implementation of resolution 2231. At all three sessions, Russia requested a procedural vote on the agenda, which was adopted each time with 11 votes in favour, two against (China and Russia), and two abstentions (Pakistan and Somalia).
Without a chair and unable to convene, the Committee’s substantive work remains blocked. In April, China and Russia also apparently rejected eight candidates proposed by the Secretariat to serve on the PoE. The Council originally established the Panel through resolution 1929 of 9 June 2010 and had annually renewed its mandate, up until the adoption of resolution 2231 in 2015. Most Council members believe that the PoE was reinstated when the snapback took effect and that its current mandate expires on 27 September. (For more background and information, see the brief on Iran in our September 2026 Monthly Forecast.)
Tomorrow’s Meeting
In line with the precedent set by the US and Colombian presidencies, France included the briefing on the 1737 Committee in September’s programme of work, the adoption of which China and Russia consequently blocked at the beginning of the month. On 1 September, France circulated a draft of the 90-day report on the Committee’s activities and put it under NOP. The draft report apparently covered the approximately one-year period from 27 September 2025—when most Council members argue that the Committee was re-established—until today (9 September), since no report was presented on the Committee’s first, second, and third 90-day periods that ended in December 2025, March 2026, and June 2026, respectively.
The draft report apparently stated that the Committee has not held any meetings in the past year. It further noted that the Committee received 20 asset freeze exemption requests from member states, which it considered and did not object to. There were also two asset freeze exemption notifications. Similarly to the draft report circulated in June by Colombia, the latest draft report also apparently stated that the Committee considered a proposed update to the 1737 Sanctions List, submitted by the US, as well as a letter from Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo proposing eight candidates to serve as experts on the PoE. The Committee did not approve either proposal, apparently due to opposition from China and Russia.
As in March and June, China and Russia objected to the adoption of the draft report. No report will be presented at tomorrow’s meeting, but Council members are expected to make interventions, which are likely to reiterate their established positions on the Iranian nuclear issue.
China and Russia are expected to restate their claim that the invocation of the snapback mechanism was invalid and that the Council has therefore concluded its consideration of the Iranian nuclear file. Similarly to what transpired in March and June, they may call for a procedural vote on the meeting’s agenda.
France, the UK, and the US (the P3) and other like-minded members are likely to reassert that all UN sanctions on Iran are in effect and legally binding and call on Iran to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium—for which they argue there is no civilian justification—and fully comply with its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). They may also call for the full operationalisation of the 1737 Sanctions Committee in order to enable effective oversight of the sanctions regime.
In a similar vein, these members may stress the importance of appointing experts to serve on the PoE and of renewing the Panel’s mandate ahead of its 27 September expiry. Two weeks ago, the US apparently circulated a draft resolution extending the PoE’s mandate. A vote on the matter is currently scheduled for 17 September. China and Russia are likely to oppose the PoE’s extension, in line with their established position.
The P3 and other like-minded members may also highlight recent findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Agency’s most recent quarterly report, dated 1 September, notes that, for more than a year, the Agency has been unable to conduct verification activities at declared nuclear facilities affected by the June 2025 US-Israeli strikes on Iran and has therefore lost continuity of knowledge in relation to Iran’s previously declared inventories of enriched-uranium stockpile at those facilities. It states that the Agency has been unable to verify the country’s implementation of its Safeguards Agreement under the NPT.
Today, the IAEA Board of Governors (BoG) adopted a new resolution calling on Iran to remedy its non-compliance with its Safeguards Agreement. The resolution was put forward by France, Germany, the UK, and the US, receiving 23 votes in favour, three against (China, Niger, and Russia), and eight abstentions. It requests IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to report Iran to the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, marking the first time that the BoG has done so in 20 years. The resolution cites the IAEA’s 1 September report as well as two previous BoG resolutions. The first, adopted shortly before the June 2025 US-Israeli strikes on Iran, declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in nearly 20 years. The second, adopted on 10 June, called on Iran to disclose detailed information about its enriched uranium stockpiles and to immediately allow the Agency access to verify these materials. Iranian officials reportedly described the resolution adopted today as “politically motivated”, arguing that the current situation is a result of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran.
At tomorrow’s meeting, Council members are also likely to discuss the broader Middle East crisis triggered by the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began in February and Iran’s subsequent retaliation across the region. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in June between Iran and the US—which ended hostilities, called for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a waiver of US sanctions on Iranian oil, and provided for a 60-day negotiating period on a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme—has come under significant strain. The MoU officially expired on 17 August without a final agreement, as the strait remains effectively closed, attacks on shipping have continued, and the US revoked its sanctions waivers on Iranian oil. Tomorrow, several Council members are likely to underscore the urgency of reaching a durable, negotiated settlement, and to call on the parties to de-escalate, exercise restraint, and return to a diplomatic path.
