Vienna: A day before the new deadline for a nuclear accord, Iran pushed on Monday to lift the UN arms embargo on the country as a parallel deal - a demand that the United States opposes as it seeks to limit Tehran's Mideast clout.
Speaking on the eve of a belated target date for a complete agreement, a senior Iranian official said his country and the six world powers it is negotiating with are working on a UN resolution that endorses any future nuclear deal.
Lifting the arms embargo would be separate from a long-term accord that foresees limits on Iran's nuclear programmes in exchange for relief from crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
But Iran also sees existing UN resolutions imposed on Iran's nuclear programme 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 US said "important restrictions on conventional arms and ballistic missiles" would be incorporated in any new UN guidelines for Iran.
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 July 7. But many core issues remain, and an announcement tomorrow is unlikely.
While the discussions have been focused on uranium stockpiles and the timing for lifting economic sanctions, Iran's long-standing desire to have the arms embargo lifted at the signing of a deal is another wrinkle thrown into the mix.
Russia and China have expressed support for lifting the embargo, which was imposed in 2007 as part of a series of penalties over its nuclear programme.
But the US doesn't want the arms ban ended because it could allow Tehran to expand its military assistance to Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled government, for the Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It also would increase already stalwart opposition to the deal in Congress and in Israel.
Lifting the embargo is "one of the important issues we are discussing," said the Iranian official, who briefed reporters on the status of the talks in Vienna on condition he not be quoted by name. "There should not be any place for the arms embargo."
Iran wants to have a hand in shaping any Security Council resolution endorsing a comprehensive nuclear deal, the official added. He offered no details, but said Iran is interested in wording that shifts the critical tone of previous resolutions passed over Tehran's nuclear programme.
