CHANNEL NEWS ASIA
by Staff
July 8, 2014

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader revealed Tuesday that his country ultimately wants 190,000 nuclear centrifuges — a huge figure that lays bare the massive gap between Tehran and world powers negotiating a deal.

The comments, published on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website, represent a dramatic intervention in the talks currently taking place in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany, for a nuclear accord.

His remarks relate directly to Iran’s ability to enrich uranium — the process of producing fuel from centrifuges for nuclear power stations or, in highly extended form, the core of an atomic bomb.

Iran currently has around 19,000 centrifuges — of which only 10,000 are working — but says a higher number, as well as a more powerful type of machine, will be needed to develop nuclear energy in the future.

Khamenei said the long-term number of centrifuges Iran requires is 19 times higher than world powers currently want to allow under a comprehensive agreement.

Uranium enrichment and centrifuge numbers are the most sensitive topic in the negotiations, which aim to conclude a deal by July 20.

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