AKIPRESS.COM - The U.S. is helping Iran with an arrangement to send part of its nuclear fuel stockpile to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, a step that would ease swift sanctions relief for Tehran, Wall Street Journal reports.

The arrangement with Kazakhstan, which is still being negotiated and hasn’t been previously disclosed, could resolve a major obstacle to implementing the nuclear deal. U.S. and Iranian officials say they hope the accord, which grants Iran sanctions relief in exchange for limits on its nuclear activities, can take effect as soon as next month.

U.S. officials have said they hope sanctions relief can be delivered to Iran before key parliamentary elections in late February. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, campaigned for the presidency in 2013 on a platform of getting the sanctions lifted and opposition to the deal within Iran could grow if they aren’t eased quickly.

Kazakhstan inherited nuclear weapons when the Soviet Union collapsed, but then surrendered its nuclear arsenal.