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Iran Talks Stall over Ending of Sanctions

(Wall Street Journal) Laurence Norman and Jay Solomon - When international sanctions on Iran would be lifted has emerged as one of the largest remaining stumbling blocks to an agreement to constrain Tehran's nuclear program by a March 31 deadline, according to U.S., European and Iranian officials. Tehran's negotiators in Switzerland have hardened their position that UN sanctions be repealed at the front end of any deal, while the U.S. and its European allies are demanding the UN sanctions be suspended or terminated in a phased time-frame over years. They believe sanctions relief should only come after Iran addresses concerns about its past nuclear work and is given a clean bill of health by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. A senior European diplomat involved in the Lausanne talks said it would take much more than a year or two for UN sanctions to be lifted. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told NBC News: "The most important thing is that the lifting of restrictions on Iran's nuclear program would depend on Iran's change of behavior, that it would stop supporting terrorism, stop its aggression against just about every country in the region, and stop calling [for] and threatening the annihilation of Israel."
2015-03-20 00:00:00
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