As a new round of talks between the P5+1 group of world powers (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) and Iran is scheduled to take place next week in Geneva, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that there is a “fundamental” disagreement over centrifuges, increasing doubts over whether a long-term nuclear agreement can be agreed before the 20 July deadline.
“We are still hitting a wall on one absolutely fundamental point, which is the number of centrifuges that allow enrichment,’’ Fabius said in an interview with France Inter radio.
He added : “We say that there can be a few hundred centrifuges, but the Iranians want thousands so we’re not in the same framework.”
Other outstanding issues between the two sides are also thought to exist such as the Arak heavy water reactor and “possible military dimensions” to the Iranian nuclear programme.
According to the French foreign ministry, Iran’s unwillingness to dramatically reduce the number of centrifuges ''is proof Iran does not want to give up the idea of building nuclear weapons.''
On Monday, senior delegates from the United States and Iran met in a closed-door session in Geneva for their first official talks over decade.
The two delegations were headed by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns and Iranian Vice Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi respectively.
The Geneva talks marked the first time the two countries held direct official talks on nuclear issue outside the framework of P5+1 group.