Iran may accept new constraints on uranium enrichment but is pushing back about the length of limits on technology it could use to make nuclear arms, Western officials said today.
Tuesday is the target date in the nuclear talks for a preliminary agreement that would set the stage for a further round of negotiations toward a comprehensive deal by June 30.
The goal is a long-term curb on Iran's nuclear activities, with Tehran gaining relief from the burden of economic penalties imposed by the West.
Foreign ministers and other representatives from Iran and the six powers in the talks have said the negotiations have a chance of succeeding by Tuesday.
The two Western officials who outlined the state of the talks spoke on condition of anonymity because the officials were not authorised to discuss them publicly.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said US negotiators were aiming for a strong deal. By accepting constraints on their atomic activities, the Iranians would "live up to their rhetoric that they are not trying to acquire a nuclear weapon," he said in Washington on ABC's "This Week."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewed his vocal criticism of what he considers a looming diplomatic victory for Iran, and feared that any deal would not stop Tehran from having the ability to produce nuclear arms. He said the provisions of the deal being worked on appear to "corroborate all our concerns and then some."
Officials said the sides are advancing on limits to aspects of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which can be used to make the core of a nuclear warhead.
Over the past weeks, Iran has moved from demanding it be allowed to keep 10,000 centrifuges enriching uranium, to agreeing to 6,000. The officials said Iran now may be ready to accept even less.
Tehran also is ready to ship out all the enriched uranium it produces to Russia, which the officials said was a change from previous demands that it be allowed to keep a small amount in stock.
One official cautioned that Iran had previously agreed to this but changed its mind.
Iran's official IRNA news agency later cited an unidentified Iranian negotiator as denying his country was ready to move all enriched uranium to Russia.
Uranium enrichment has been the chief concern in over more than a decade of international attempts to cap Iran's nuclear programmes.
