UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Friday rejected another last-ditch effort to delay the reimposition of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program a day before the deadline and after Western countries claimed that weeks of meetings failed to result in a “concrete” agreement. The resolution put forth by Russia and China — Iran’s most powerful and closest allies on the 15-member council — failed to garner support from the nine countries required to halt the series of UN sanctions from taking effect Saturday, as outlined in Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Russian efforts to delay the return of sanctions is expected to fail during vote on Friday

UNSC resolution to delay action to flop; Iran warns deal with IAEA would be "terminated" if sanctions are reinstated.