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Iran Talks Set to Miss Second Deadline in Vienna

(Worthy News) - World powers were set Tuesday to miss yet another deadline to nail down an elusive nuclear deal ending a 13-year standoff with Iran, despite hours of difficult top-level negotiations.

In a sign of how complex the negotiations have become, foreign ministers met deep into the night Monday grappling with the toughest remaining issues which have so far thwarted a deal to curtail Iran's nuclear program.

In what has become a high-stakes game of diplomatic poker, the ministers met twice Monday with the Iranian delegation led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for a total of almost three hours. [ Source ]

Iran demands end to U.N. missile sanctions, West refuses

A dispute over U.N. 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, the day before their latest self-imposed deadline.

"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," one Western official told Reuters. "There's no appetite for that on our part."

"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.

"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." [ Source ]