Iran report says nuclear 'breakout' concerns overblown
In the latest salvo in final deal talks, Iran's foreign minister has posted a report arguing it would take Iran at least three years to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon.
Washington — A day after US and Iranian negotiators completed 12 hours of nuclear talks in Geneva, Iran’s Foreign Minister on Wednesday posted an Iranian report countering Western concerns about short Iranian nuclear "breakout" times.
“A serious scrutiny of the myth of breakout may prevent it from derailing the nuclear negotiations,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter Wednesday, posting a link to an eight-page technical report posted at the NuclearEnergy.IR website.
The Zarif tweet of the Iranian report — titled "How long would an Iranian 'breakout' really take?" — is the latest salvo in Iran's heretofore mostly behind-closed-door case to negotiators that it should be able to retain most of its enrichment capacity in a final deal and ultimately be able to expand the program to meet the country's future power needs. It comes as negotiations are intensifying to see if Iran and the P5+1 will be able to reach a final accord by July 20, when a six-month interim deal expires, or if they will need to extend the talks. The next round of final deal talks between the six powers and Iran is set to be held in Vienna next week, from June 16-20.
Iranian officials on Tuesday said differences remain after two days of talks with American diplomats in Geneva, but that the consultations were intense and useful, and will continue.
