Iran on Monday pushed to lift the UN arms embargo on the country a day before the deadline for a nuclear agreement between Tehran and the P5+1 world powers, AP reported Monday.
Lifting the embargo is “one of the important issues we are discussing,” an Iranian official speaking on the condition of anonymity told AP. “There should not be any place for the arms embargo.”
Iran’s long-standing desire to lift the UN arms embargo presents yet another challenge in what has been a long and difficult negotiation process for the parties involved.
Russia and China have expressed support for lifting the embargo, imposed in 2007 in a series of penalties placed on Tehran over its nuclear program.
The US, meanwhile, seeks to maintain the embargo in an effort to prevent Iran from expanding its military assistance to Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Houthi resistance in Yemen, and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
US negotiators are also concerned that lifting the embargo would increase opposition to the nuclear deal in Congress, Israel, and the Gulf.
