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Khamenei Calls for Significant Increase in Iranian Uranium Enrichment Capacity

(Reuters) Louis Charbonneau and Parisa Hafezi - A major speech by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week has limited the ability of the Iranian delegation at nuclear talks to make concessions, diplomats said. Khamenei suggested that Iran needed 190,000 centrifuges - a 19-fold increase in its current operational capacity to refine uranium. U.S. and European negotiators want Iran to have a figure in the low thousands to ensure it cannot quickly amass enough for atomic bomb fuel. "(Khamenei's) statement served both as a directive upon his negotiating team and as an apparent effort to shift the framework of the debate away from Western demands, essentially grounding the talks," according to a Western intelligence analysis of the speech. "In our assessment, Khamenei's remarks...were aimed at sending a clear message to the international community that the negotiating team does not have the mandate to compromise on the most critical issues under discussion."
2014-07-15 00:00:00
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