Iran snapback sanctions loom as UN security council set to vote on nuclear programme

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a conference in Cairo, Egypt, in early September as negotiations over snapback sanctions continue. Photograph: Sayed Hassan/Getty Images

A final Russian attempt to defer the snapback of large-scale UN sanctions on Iran is expected to fail at the UN security council on Friday after European countries rejected last-minute Iranian offers to give UN weapons inspectors limited access to its bombed nuclear sites.

Russia will call for the reimposition of the sanctions to be deferred for six months to give more time for diplomacy, but European diplomats are confident that Russia will not get the nine votes it needs on the security council for the snapback to be deferred. The last time Russia put the same issue to a vote it received only four votes.