(Reuters) - Iran must drop its demands to have thousands of centrifuges used to enrich uranium if it wants a lasting deal with major powers over its disputed nuclear program, France's foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Highlighting a big gap in negotiating positions, Laurent Fabius told French radio that Iran should only have a few hundred centrifuges, machines that spin at supersonic speed to increase the concentration of the fissile isotope.

Iran - which says its nuclear program is peaceful and rejects accusations that it has been seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability - now has around 19,000 centrifuges installed, of which roughly half are operating. It says it needs to expand its capacity to fuel planned nuclear power plants.

"We are still hitting a wall on one absolutely fundamental point which is the number of centrifuges which allow enrichment," Fabius told France Inter radio.

By Reuters

 

The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.