Iran pushes for end to arms embargo

Associated Press

VIENNA

A day before the new deadline for a nuclear accord, Iran pushed Monday for an end to the U.N. arms embargo on the country – a parallel deal that the United States opposes as it seeks to limit Tehran’s Mideast power and influence.

Speaking on the eve of an already-extended target date for a complete agreement, a senior Iranian official and a U.S. official said Iran and the six world powers it is negotiating with are also working on a U.N. resolution that would endorse any future nuclear deal.

Lifting the arms embargo would be separate from a long-term accord that foresees limits on Iran’s nuclear programs in exchange for relief from crippling economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

But Iran also sees existing U.N. resolutions affecting Iran’s nuclear program and the accompanying sanctions as unjust and illegal.

It has insisted that those resolutions be lifted since the start of international negotiations nearly a decade ago to limit its nuclear-arms-making capability.

After world powers and Iran reached a framework pact in April, the U.S. said “important restrictions on conventional arms and ballistic missiles” would be incorporated in any new U.N. guidelines for Iran. It also said “a new U.N. Security Council resolution ... will endorse” any deal.

Negotiators and some foreign ministers of the six world powers plus Iran gathered in Vienna to complete a comprehensive nuclear deal by June 30.

When they couldn’t reach agreement by then, they agreed to extend the deadline to today. But many core issues remain, and an announcement today is unlikely.