nuclear-news

As negotiators raced against the clock in a rainy Switzerland on Sunday, in Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a blistering attack on the “dangerous” accord that may be emerging.

• One Western diplomat said Iran had “more or less” agreed to slash the number of its centrifuge machines by more than two-thirds and to ship abroad most of its stockpile of nuclear material.

  A senior Iranian negotiator denied any such thing, saying any such claims were aimed at “disturbing” the talks.

  “No deal has been reached, and the remaining issues have to be resolved,” the Iranian official said.

  But at the same time Iranian officials have expressed guarded optimism that after 18 months of tortuous negotiations and two missed deadlines, a breakthrough might be in sight for a deal ending 12 years of tensions……..

• The aim is to agree broad outlines for an accord by Tuesday’s midnight deadline, and then flesh out a series of complex annexes containing all the technical details by June 30.

  The mooted deal would see Iran scale down its nuclear program and allow unprecedented inspections of its remaining activities.

• The hope is to prolong the theoretical “breakout” time that Iran would need to produce enough fissile material to build a nuclear bomb to at least a year from the current estimate of several months.

  This would require a combination of slashing the number of centrifuges, converting existing nuclear plants such as the underground Fordo facility, exporting its stocks of enriched uranium and limiting the development of newer, faster equipment.

  Iran is insisting that in exchange global powers must lift sanctions that have choked its economy by strangling its oil exports and banks.

  The issue of UN sanctions is proving particularly thorny, diplomats said, with global powers insisting the sanctions should be eased only gradually to ensure that they can be “snapped” back into place if Iran violates the deal.