Four countries vote to stop sanctions from being reintroduced, while nine vote against sanctions relief.

The United Nations Security Council has voted not to permanently lift economic sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, delivering a major economic blow that Tehran claims is “politically biased”.

A resolution on Friday to block the sanctions fell in the Security Council by a vote of four to nine, meaning European sanctions will return by September 28 if no significant deal is reached beforehand.

Russia, China, Pakistan and Algeria voted to stop the sanctions from being reintroduced, while nine UNSC members voted against sanctions relief. Two countries abstained.

The vote follows a 30-day process launched in late August by Britain, France and Germany – known as the E3 – to reinstate sanctions unless Tehran meets their demands.

Iran says Europeans ‘misusing JCPOA mechanism’

Iranian officials have accused the European trio of abusing the dispute mechanism contained in the 2015 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which allows for the application of sanctions under a “snapback mechanism”.

“What Europeans are doing is politically biased and politically motivated … They are wrong on different levels by trying to misuse the mechanism embedded in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),” Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

The Europeans offered to delay the snapback for up to six months if Iran restored access for UN nuclear inspectors and engaged in talks with the US.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed that Tehran had presented a “reasonable and actionable plan” and insisted Iran remains committed to the NPT.

But the E3 accuse Tehran of breaching their nuclear commitments, including by building up a uranium stockpile of more than 40 times the level permitted under the JCPOA. The UN’s nuclear watchdog board also ruled back in June that Iran was not respecting international nuclear safeguards.

‘Clock is ticking for high-level diplomacy’

The UNSC vote allowing sanctions to snap back is not the complete “end of negotiations,” as the parties have just over a week to come up with a last-ditch deal, said Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays, reporting from the UN.

“It’s the week where world leaders are all here in New York for the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly, so it sets the stage for high-level diplomacy between Iran and particularly the three European countries,” said Bays. But “we’re reaching the end of this high-stakes diplomacy, and the clock really is ticking.”

Under the JCPOA – signed by Iran, the United States, China, Russia and the EU – Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. But the agreement unravelled in 2018 after then-US President Donald Trump pulled out and reimposed unilateral sanctions.

Tensions escalated further earlier this summer, when Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran, with Israeli and US forces striking several nuclear facilities.

Iran has repeatedly denied pursuing nuclear weapons but affirmed its right to peacefully pursue nuclear energy.

Report says ethnic violence has risen as the civil war passed two-year anniversary in the first half of 2025.

Civilians are bearing the brunt as Sudan‘s vicious civil war extends and intensifies, the United Nations has warned.

The UN’s Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said in a report released on Friday that civilian deaths and ethnic violence rose significantly as the war passed its two-year anniversary during the first half of 2025. The same day, reports said that dozens were killed by paramilitaries in an attack on a mosque in Darfur.

The rate of civilian deaths across Sudan has increased, the report says, with 3,384 civilians dying in the first six months of the year, a figure equalling 80 percent of the 4,238 civilian deaths throughout the whole of 2024.

“Sudan’s conflict is a forgotten one, and I hope that my office’s report puts the spotlight on this disastrous situation where atrocity crimes, including war crimes, are being committed,” OHCHR chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

#Sudan crisis deepens amid rising civilian casualties, worsening ethnic violence & humanitarian situation, finds @UNHumanRights report.

States must face grim reality of what has now evolved into a wider protection crisis & use their influence to end this conflict.

Many more… pic.twitter.com/c7OOcLUgdH

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) September 19, 2025

“Several trends remained consistent during the first half of 2025: a continued pervasiveness of sexual violence, indiscriminate attacks, and the widespread use of retaliatory violence against civilians, particularly on an ethnic basis, targeting individuals accused of ‘collaboration’ with opposing parties,” said the report.

New trends include the use of drones, including in attacks on civilian sites and in Sudan’s north and east, which until now have been largely spared by the war, it said.

“The increasing ethnicisation of the conflict, which builds on longstanding discrimination and inequalities, poses grave risks for longer-term stability and social cohesion within the country,” said Turk.

“Many more lives will be lost without urgent action to protect civilians and without the rapid and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.”

Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a brutal war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced some 12 million people. The UN has described it as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with famine prevalent in parts of Darfur and southern Sudan.

The war has, in effect, split the country, with the army holding the north, east and centre, while the RSF dominates parts of the south and nearly all of the western Darfur region.

Efforts by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to broker a ceasefire between the warring parties have so far failed.

The RSF killed 43 civilians in a drone strike on a mosque early on Friday in the besieged city of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, the Sudan Doctors’ Network NGO said in a social media post.

The NGO labelled the attack a “heinous crime” against unarmed civilians that showed the group’s “blatant disregard for humanitarian and religious values and international law”.

The Resistance Committees in el-Fasher, a group comprised of local citizens from the community that includes human rights activists, who track abuses, posted a video reportedly showing parts of the mosque reduced to rubble with several bodies scattered on the site, now filled with debris.

The same group reported on Thursday that the RSF had targeted several unarmed civilians, including women and older adults, in displacement shelters in the city.

A day earlier, it said that heavy artillery by the RSF had continuously targeted residential neighbourhoods.

Animal welfare activists in India are mourning the death of a much-loved elephant they long sought to rehabilitate.

Shankar, the lone African elephant at Delhi’s zoo who spent much of his life in isolation, refused food on Wednesday and collapsed by evening. Despite veterinary efforts, the 29-year-old male died within 40 minutes, officials said.

For 24 years, Shankar endured a lonely existence – including at least 13 spent in solitary confinement.

The cause of his death is not known yet. “Investigation regarding the cause of death has been ordered,” zoo director Sanjeet Kumar told BBC.

Shankar was among two African elephants that arrived in India in 1998 as a diplomatic gift from Zimbabwe to former India President Shankar Dayal Sharma.

But Shankar’s companion died in 2001, said Mr Kumar.

A former zoo official, who did not wish to be identified, said that after his companion’s death, Shankar was temporarily lodged with the Asian elephants in the zoo, but the plan did not work.

“They were very aggressive towards one another,” he said, adding that Shankar was soon isolated.

“He [Shankar] was playful when his companion was there. They were popular among zoo visitors. Shankar’s behaviour changed after the other African elephant died. Shankar never accepted any other elephant’s company, neither did they accept Shankar’s. He was left friendless,” the former official said.

In 2012, Shankar was shifted to a new enclosure that left him virtually in solitary confinement – despite a 2009 federal ban on keeping elephants alone for more than six months. He remained there until his death.

For years now, activists have been demanding that Shankar be removed from the zoo and rehabilitated in a wildlife sanctuary that houses other African elephants.

In 2021, a petition in Delhi’s high court sought Shankar’s relocation to a sanctuary with other African elephants. Two years later, the court dismissed the petition, directing the petitioner to approach the committee handling transfers of wild animals by zoos.

Until Wednesday, Shankar was among the only two African elephants in India’s zoos. The other – also an adult male – lives in Mysore zoo in the southern state of Karnataka.

Zoos have long struggled to find mates for the two African male elephants, with efforts stalled by high costs, regulatory hurdles, multiple approvals, and welfare concerns, The Indian Express reported.

Activists have also criticised the conditions in which Shankar was kept at the zoo in Delhi, describing his enclosure as bleak and inadequate.

“It’s heartbreaking to see him die like this,” said Nikita Dhawan, founder of the non-profit Youth For Animals, who had filed the 2021 court petition. “It was easily preventable. He (Shankar) did not have any serious health problems. And he was too young.”

The average life expectancy of African elephants is 70 years.

Mr Kumar, the director of Delhi zoo, said that there was “no report of sickness or abnormal behaviour” in Shankar’s case till Wednesday morning.

Animal welfare activist Gauri Maulekhi said Shankar’s death reflects “years of institutional apathy and neglect” and called it a systemic failure demanding accountability.

“An internal inquiry is simply not enough,” Ms Maulekhi told BBC. “This was a systemic failure that demands real accountability and must serve as a watershed moment to end the cruel practice of keeping elephants and other social animals isolated in our zoos for good.”

Asked about allegations of neglect, Mr Kumar said “all care and upkeep was followed”, but declined to take specific questions.

In October 2024, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, suspended the Delhi zoo’s membership over concerns about Shankar’s living conditions, following reports that he was chained, news agency PTI reported.

The global body gave Delhi zoo until April 2025 to either relocate Shankar or improve his care, warning that its membership would be terminated if the deadline was missed.

A day after the suspension notice, a federal minister inspected Shankar’s enclosure and said his health looked better. On 15 October, the government announced plans to bring him a female companion, saying Zimbabwe and Botswana had shown interest and formalities were underway.

Officials in Delhi zoo said that they did not receive any more notices from the global body. And Shankar died before a companion could be arranged.

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