VIENNA — Nuclear talks with Iran could stretch beyond Tuesday’s extended deadline, as the parties try to resolve key issues involving sanctions, Iran’s nuclear research and the fate of embargoes on the sale of missiles and weapons to Tehran.
A senior Iranian official said Monday that his delegation considers Tuesday an “artificial deadline” for a nuclear agreement, but indicated that Iran expects a move to lift United Nations prohibitions on the sale of conventional weapons and ballistic missiles.
Iran has long maintained that an arms embargo imposed in 2010 is illegal because it has nothing to do with nuclear weapons. The official said Iran is not insisting that the embargo be part of a comprehensive agreement, but he also said that lifting it would be a “natural consequence” of any agreement involving restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
“This is one of the important issues we are discussing,” said the official, a negotiator who spoke to Western reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The remarks suggest a new wrinkle in the talks on the eve of Tuesday’s extended deadline.
The U.S. delegation made no public statements Monday.
A U.S. “fact sheet” outlining a political framework agreement reached with Iran three months ago said nuclear-related U.N. sanctions on Iran would be lifted. In their place, a new umbrella resolution would be introduced to incorporate remaining non-nuclear sanctions, including on conventional weapons and ballistic missiles, and the transfer of sensitive technology.
An Iranian fact sheet at the same time said that “all” U.N. sanctions would be lifted and did not mention existing non-nuclear sanctions.
In his remarks to reporters Monday, the Iranian negotiator was unclear about whether an agreement to end the arms embargo must accompany a nuclear deal.
He said Iran expects a “fundamental shift” in the U.N. Security Council’s approach to Iran, which he characterized as being “terrible, to put it mildly.”
“There cannot be a resolution to the nuclear issue, and at the same time those sanctions continue to exist,” he said. “We understand it’s a hard decision they have to make. If they want to get the job done, if they want to open a new page in relations with Iran, they have to make this hard choice.”
Foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia arrived in Vienna early Monday, hoping to seal a deal. The ministers met separately with one another and, late in the afternoon, as a group with the Iranian delegation.
