Source rejects Reuters report on Iran’s demand for removal of missile sanctions

A source privy to the nuclear negotiations underway between Iran and the six world powers in Vienna strongly rejected a Reuters report alleging that Tehran is holding up talks due to its persistent demand for an end to the UN missile sanctions.

Reuters alleged in a Monday report that a dispute over UN sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program and a broader arms embargo were among issues holding up a nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers on Monday.

“This report is nonsense and void of reality,” an Iranian diplomat told FNA.

Reuters claimed that an unnamed Western official has told the news agency that “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”.

“There’s no appetite for that on our part,” the report added.

Reuters further alleged that “Iranian and other Western officials have confirmed this view”.

“The Western side insists that not only should it (Iran’s ballistic missile program) remain under sanctions, but that Iran should suspend its program as well,” an Iranian official said, the report claimed.

“But Iran is insisting on its rights and says all the sanctions, including on the ballistic missiles, should be lifted when the U.N. sanctions are lifted,” it added.

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