White House Spokesperson on Tuesday:
The United States does not recognize that Iran has a right to enrich, but “we are prepared to negotiate a strictly limited enrichment program in the end state,” said Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman with the White House National Security Council.
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Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb within a month, USA Today reported on Thursday, citing a report by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
“Today, Iran could break out most quickly using a three-step process with its installed centrifuges and its low-enriched uranium stockpiles as of August 2013. In this case, Iran could produce one significant quantity in as little as approximately 1.0–1.6 months, if it uses all its near 20 percent low-enriched uranium hexafluoride stockpile,” the ISIS wrote in a report published on its website Thursday.
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Iran’s goal in the current round of diplomacy with the international community is to hold on to its ability to independently enrich uranium, and such an outcome is unacceptable to Israel, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon warned on Wednesday.
“They’re striving to keep their ability to independently enrich uranium,” Ya’alon said during an appearance before the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. “This is unacceptable from our perspective, as this is the way to mislead and hoodwink [the international community], as they’ve done in the past.”
Israel’s position is that an easing of sanctions must only come following an Iranian willingness to give up on independent enrichment, do away with its plutonium program, and remove the enriched uranium already in Iran’s possession, the defense minister added.
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At talks in Geneva on the nuclear program with six world powers on Tuesday, Iran’s negotiators presented a proposal on defusing a decade-old standoff. But both sides said it was too early to talk of a breakthrough.
Any easing by Washington of sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran taking steps to scale back its nuclear program is likely to be fleeting and symbolic, with any moves for bigger concessions likely to be blocked by Congress.
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Even if Iran promises to take serious steps, it is unlikely to satisfy key members of the US Congress, which generally takes a harder line on Iran than President Barack Obama’s administration.
Lawmakers including Robert Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have signaled they want Tehran to stop even low-level enrichment of uranium used in generating power before they would take steps to wind down existing sanctions, or even agree not to put through tougher ones.
Iran will reportedly offer to stop enriching uranium to levels of 20% purity in upcoming talks with world powers in Geneva, as well as offer to open the country’s nuclear facilities to more intrusive international inspections,The Wall Street Journalcited officials as saying on Tuesday.
The Islamic Republic is also considering offering to close the underground uranium-enrichment facility near Qom, according to the report.
In return for meeting the key demand of the P5+1 group, Tehran was reportedly set to ask the US and EU to start easing economic sanctions…
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There were reports Saturday that Zimbabwe signed a secret agreement to sell uranium to Iran where “The Times quote[d] the African nation’s deputy mining minister as saying Mugabe has agreed to export uranium to Iran in violation of sanctions” and that “Zimbabwe [was] pushing ahead with deal despite US warning of serious consequences.” Zimbabwe later denied the report saying that they do not in fact have the capacity to handle uranium.