UN missile sanctions on Iran hold up nuclear deal

A dispute over United Nations sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile programme is among the issues holding up a nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers as a Tuesday deadline for an accord approaches, Iranian and Western officials said.

“The Iranians want the ballistic missile sanctions lifted. They say there is no reason to connect it with the nuclear issue, a view that is difficult to accept,” a Western official told Reuters. “There’s no appetite for that on our part.” Iranian and Western officials confirmed this view.

Separately, a senior Iranian official told reporters on condition of anonymity in the Austrian capital on Monday that Tehran wanted a United Nations arms embargo terminated as well.

The deal under discussion between Iran and the powers is aimed at curbing Tehran's most sensitive nuclear work for a decade or more, in exchange for relief from sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.

The United States and its allies fear Iran is using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran says its programme is peaceful.

Reaching a deal would be the most important milestone in decades towards alleviating hostility between the United States and Iran, enemies since Iranian revolutionaries captured 52 hostages in the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Washington is negotiating the deal as part of a group of major powers that also includes Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. It is a major initiative both for the administration of US President Barack Obama and for Iran's pragmatic elected President Hassan Rouhani, both of whom face scepticism from powerful hardliners at home.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that reaching an agreement is possible this week if Iran makes the "hard choices" necessary, but if not, the United States stands ready to walk away from the negotiations.

Reuters