The UN Security Council on Tuesday voted to keep intact a panel of experts monitoring sanctions on Iran as the negotiations between Tehran and the major powers on a nuclear deal head into the final stretch.
The 15-member council unanimously adopted a resolution renewing the mandate of the panel until July 2016, AFP reported.
Diplomats said no action would be taken to change sanctions monitoring at the United Nations until a final deal on Iran's nuclear program was reached.
The permanent Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany are hoping to finalize, by the end of this month, a landmark agreement reached in April that would place temporary constraints on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
A final deal would pave the way for action by the Security Council to scrap six resolutions adopted on Iran's nuclear program since 2006, four of which imposed sanctions targeting the government and Iranian nationals and entities.
Led by Georgian ex-foreign minister Salome Zurabishvili, the eight-member panel of experts was set up in 2006 and presents regular reports to a Security Council sanctions committee on whether Iran is abiding by the resolutions.
