Iran's demand that the West recognize what it says is its right to enrich uranium has emerged as one of the final missing pieces in an interim nuclear agreement with global powers, according to Iranian, American and European officials.
Iran
's
demand that the West recognize what it says is its right to enrich uranium has
emerged as one of the final missing pieces in an interim nuclear agreement with
global powers, according to Iranian, American and European officials.
Diplomats from Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations
Security Council plus Germany, a group known as the P5+1, are meeting in Geneva
to try to reach a deal that would offer Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for
curbing some activities that the West suspects are aimed at making a nuclear
weapon, a charge Iran denies.
The diplomats held a second day of talks in a bid to close gaps that blocked an
interim agreement nearly two weeks ago. Officials described the talks as
detailed, but said that by late Thursday some key, sensitive issues remained
unresolved.
Senior
U.S.
officials said if progress was made, Secretary of State John Kerry and other
foreign ministers could fly to
Geneva
to
try to push through a final agreement.
A spokesman for European Union foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton, who heads
the P5+1, said there were no plans for that as of late Thursday.
Injecting a new wrinkle into the talks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.,
Nev.) called for action on legislation intensifying sanctions against
Iran
and
said the bill could be approved next month.
The White House has been urging lawmakers to delay any new sanctions to give
time for the diplomatic process. But Sen. Reid's call could help push the
negotiators in
Geneva
to
complete a preliminary deal this month, before the issue can come up before
senators.
Thursday's discussions left
Iran
and
the P5+1 with a clearer view of the others' key concerns and margin to
maneuver, leaving the two sides "closer to finding the right formula"
for a deal, a Western diplomat said.
Diplomats in
Geneva
said
the broad outlines of the accord are understood.
Iran
would
limit the most dangerous parts of its nuclear program, including the enrichment
of uranium to near weapons-grade nuclear fuel, in exchange for an easing of
international sanctions.
Several issues must be settled if the two sides are to clinch a breakthrough
after a decade of nuclear talks, diplomats said.
One is how to word
Iran
's
assurances that it won't continue work on its heavy-water reactor in the city
of
Arak
,
which will be capable of producing plutonium usable in a nuclear weapon.
The second is what should happen to
Iran
's
stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium.
Differences also remain on the precise sanctions relief to be offered
Iran
, an
important part of what the Western diplomat called a package of concessions
each side could take.
Fundamental to the overall accord is
Iran
's
claim that it has a right to enrich uranium.
Iran
's
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted in a speech on Wednesday that
the West recognize what
Iran
says
is its right to enrich uranium.
Iranian officials in
Geneva
on
Thursday identified the issue as perhaps the biggest impediment to an agreement
this week.
An Iranian diplomat in
Geneva
said
any pact signed this week must contain the concept of
Iran
having the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes under the U.N.'s
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"If the right to enrich isn't acknowledged, there won't be a deal,"
said the diplomat.
But Iranian officials also said there was some flexibility in the language that
could be used.
The Obama administration has argued that the nonproliferation treaty doesn't
recognize every country's right to produce nuclear fuel, even if it says all
nations have the right to civilian nuclear technologies.
A senior
U.S.
official in
Geneva
said
the Obama administration was confident language could be found to bridge the
positions.
"
Iran
has
for a long time said that they believe they have an inalienable right to
enrichment," said the official. "The
United
States
has said for an equally long
time that we do not believe any country . . . has a right to enrichment. Do I
believe this issue can be navigated in an agreement? Yes, I do. And we will see
if that can be done or not."
Officials wouldn't outline the language that might be used to reconcile the two
sides.
Outside nuclear experts close to the diplomacy said a possible outcome would be
for the P5+1 to recognize in a text agreement that
Iran
would
enjoy all the rights of a signatory to the nonproliferation treaty, without
explicitly saying
Iran
could
enrich uranium domestically.
Baroness Ashton spent hours in talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif
on Thursday in a bid to "narrow some of the gaps," said her
spokesman, Michael Mann. She also held talks among the six major powers.
"We are doing well," he said.
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