A record start to the year for emerging-market debt sales has largely ground to a halt as worries over the Iran war create havoc in the markets and push up borrowing costs, bankers and investors told Reuters, a situation that places a number of nations in limbo. The near-freeze underlines the precarious position for many emerging economies that until a month ago had enjoyed booming demand for their debt, defying tariffs and other geopolitical tumult. One exception this month has been a fund-raising from oil-producing Angola, bolstered by the spike in crude. "All funding discussions are continuing but with a cautious wait-and-see mode," Victor Mourad, Citi's CEEMEA co-head of debt financing, told Reuters. "There is access for issuers, especially the large solid issuers if needed, but that access comes at a premium," he said.