European official: EU nations likely to keep missile sanctions on Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A European official on Tuesday said he expected no difficulty persuading EU nations to maintain ballistic missile sanctions on Iran due to expire in October.

The official also said he sees a window of opportunity by the end of 2023 to try to negotiate a de-escalatory nuclear deal with Iran.

"We may have a small window of opportunity to try to resume discussions with them on (a) return to the JCPOA or at least to an agreement of de-escalation ... before the end of the year,” the official told reporters in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity. The JCPOA is a defunct 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; writing by Paul Grant; editing by Tim Ahmann)