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 United Nations sanctions and a future mechanism for Iran to buy
atomic technology are two core sticking points in talks on a
possible nuclear deal on which Tehran and world powers have been
struggling to overcome deep divisions in recent days, diplomats said
on condition of anonymity.
Negotiators were wrapping up nearly a week of talks in New York on
Tuesday, the latest round in 18 months of discussions aimed at
clinching a long-term deal by June 30 to curb Iran's nuclear program
in exchange for an end to sanctions. Expert-level negotiations are
expected to continue for several days.
The current talks have been taking place on the sidelines of a
conference on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The negotiations
between Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia,
China and the European Union will resume in Vienna next week.
The latest discussions revolved around a future Security Council
resolution that would endorse a deal and render invalid all previous
sanctions resolutions, while keeping U.N. bans on ballistic
missiles, an arms embargo and some other restrictions.
 U.S. and European negotiators want any easing of U.N. sanctions to
be automatically reversible - negotiators call this a "snapback" -
if Tehran fails to comply with terms of a deal. Russia and China
traditionally dislike such automatic measures.
The "snapback" is one of the most important issues for Western
governments who fear that, once any U.N. sanctions on Iran are
suspended, it could be hard to restore them because Russia and China
would veto any such attempt.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power made it clear
that Washington did not want Russia's and China's recent slew of
vetoes on resolutions related to Syria to be repeated with an Iran
nuclear agreement.
"We're going to do so in a manner that doesn't require Russian and
Chinese support or a vote for snapback ... because we are in a
different world in 2015 than we were when the sanctions architecture
was put in place," Power said in an interview with Charlie Rose on
Bloomberg television.
She offered no details.
Power said Washington hoped the conclusion of a nuclear deal with
Tehran would lead to a change in Iran's posture on Syria, where it
has supported President Bashar al-Assad in a four-year civil war
against rebels seeking to oust him.
PROCUREMENT CHANNEL
Iran's chief negotiator in New York offered a positive assessment of
the latest round of nuclear negotiations.
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"The atmosphere of the talks was good and it is possible to reach
the final deal by June 30," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi
told Iranian state television.
However, Western diplomats said on condition of anonymity that Iran
and the six powers, who struck an interim agreement on April 2 in
Switzerland, were far from agreement due to divisions on sanctions,
monitoring and other issues.
Restoring U.S. and EU sanctions is relatively easy, but that is not
the case with U.N. sanctions. While the United States is worried
about Russia and China, Moscow, Beijing and Tehran want to be
certain that Washington cannot unilaterally force a snapback if the
Republicans win the U.S. presidency in 2016.
"We haven't found a mechanism that works for everyone yet," one
diplomat said.
Another difficult issue is the "procurement channel" - a mechanism
for approving Iranian purchases of sensitive atomic technology
currently banned under U.N. sanctions. One idea under consideration
is a vetting committee that would include Iran and the six powers.
Tehran would have a say but not a veto, diplomats said.
Iran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and rejects
allegations from Western countries and their allies that it wants
the capability to produce atomic weapons. It says all sanctions are
illegal and works hard to circumvent them.
A confidential report by a U.N. Panel of Experts, obtained by
Reuters last week, said Britain had informed it of an active Iranian
nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted companies.
(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Ankara; Editing by Andre
Grenon and Paul Tait)
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