Far Apart: Iran Wants 19 Times the Enrichment Capacity of US Proposal

US Wanted Iran to Halve Its Existing Centrifuges

We’ve been hearing for awhile how far apart the US and Iran are in ongoing nuclear negotiations. The latest comments from Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, have provided the first indications of how far apart.

According to Khamenei, the US proposal is for Iran to have 10,000 centrifuges worth of capacity for enrichment, roughly half of the number they already have right now in operation.

That’s far from what Iran was thinking, as the nation is aiming to have self-sufficiency in fuel for its Bushehr Power Plant, and according to Khamenei was envisioning 190,000 centrifuges as a final goal.

It’s been reported for quite some time that the two sides were headed in different directions on the number of centrifuges, but to have a 19-fold difference in the number still, less than two weeks from the deadline, suggests no deal is likely.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.