“We have made impressive progress on issues that originally seemed intractable,” she told a gathering at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “We have cleared up misunderstandings and held exhaustive discussions on every element of a possible text. However, like any complicated and technically complex diplomatic initiative, this is a puzzle with many interlocking pieces.”
U.S., Iranian and European officials have said in recent weeks that the main barriers to a deal remain focused on the future size of Tehran’s nuclear-fuel production capacity and the pace of the potential lifting of Western sanctions in the case of an agreement.
The Obama administration initially demanded a complete dismantling of the nearly 20,000 centrifuges Iran has amassed to enrich uranium for the production of nuclear fuel. Tehran said it would ultimately need up to at least five times that number to have enough fuel to power the country’s reactors.
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