Nuclear talks said to stall over Iran’s advanced centrifuges

Talks on restoring the 2015 accord limiting Iran’s nuclear program have hit a roadblock over the issue of centrifuges, the Axios news site reports.

Citing unnamed European diplomats and former US officials, the report says the Biden administration’s call for Iran to return to compliance with the deal is complicated by the advances in the Iran nuclear program since then.

While the US and EU agree that the “breakout time” for Iran to have enough material to produce a bomb must be a year, Tehran sees the matter differently, with a key disagreement over the fate of the more advanced centrifuges the Iranians have installed, according to the report.

The news site further says that while there has been progress on what sanctions the US will lift to restore the deal, there has been almost no progress on the nuclear side.

The talks are set to resume tomorrow in Vienna.

“If you’re hearing that we and our partners have resolved not to cut any corners when it comes to Iran’s nuclear commitments, that’s absolutely true,” a US official is quoted saying in response.