US, allies skeptical as Iran nuclear begin

Iran says a proposal that it has presented during nuclear talks with the U.S. and five other world powers "has the capacity to make a breakthrough," despite skepticism surrounding the intentions of Iran's nuclear program.

Negotiations between Iran and the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- the first since the June election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani -- began Tuesday morning at the main United Nations building in Geneva.

The U.S. and its partners are eager to test Tehran's new style since the election of Rouhani, but approached the talks with caution, insisting that it will take more than words to advance the negotiations and end crippling international sanctions.

One immediate change from previous negotiations was the choice of language at the talks. A senior U.S. official said they were being held in English, unlike previous rounds under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rouhani's hard-line predecessor, where Farsi translation was provided. The official demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss any details of the talks.

Iran presented a Powerpoint slideshow to the countries on Tuesday morning. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Iranian plan's formal name was "An End to the Unnecessary Crisis and a Beginning for Fresh Horizons." He described it as having many new ideas but added negotiators had agreed to keep the details confidential during the morning bargaining session.

"We heard a presentation this morning from Foreign Minister [Javad] Zarif. It was very useful,'' European Union Spokesman Michael Mann said, according to Reuters. Mann said the presentation lasted about one hour.

The U.S. delegation also met with Iranian officials for an hour on the sidelines of the talks, Reuters reports. Another senior U.S. official -- who spoke on condition of anonymity -- described the discussions as "useful."

Iran's version of a grand bargain is for painful international sanctions to be lifted in exchange for possible concessions it had been previously unwilling to consider such as increased monitoring and scaling back on uranium enrichment — a potential path to nuclear arms and the centerpiece of the impasse with the West.

The full group session resumed in mid-afternoon and a U.S. State Department official said the five powers were looking at further details of the Iranian presentation. The official demanded anonymity because she was not authorize to divulge details of the closed meeting.

"For the first time, very detailed technical discussions continued this afternoon between (the six powers) and Iran on the Iranian nuclear program," Mann tweeted, according to Reuters.

Iran has long insisted it does not want nuclear weapons and that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful — a position received with skepticism in Western capitals. But Iranian officials from Rouhani down say their country is ready to meet some international demands to reduce its nuclear activities and build trust.

Araghchi said that the U.S. and its partners had "welcomed" Tehran's proposals Tuesday, saying what his country presented "has the capacity to make a breakthrough."

"We had a very serious and good meeting this morning," he said to reporters, according to Reuters. "The questions that were asked regarding Iran's plan were completely serious and our answers were as well. Both sides felt that the opposite side was continuing the negotiations with motivation."

No final deal is expected at the two-day session.

However, if the Iranians succeed in building trust, the talks could be the launching pad for a deal that has proven elusive since negotiations on Iran's nuclear program began in 2003.

That would reduce the threat of war between Iran and Israel and possibly the United States. The latter two have vowed never to accept a nuclear-armed Iran.

From the six-power perspective, the ideal outcome would be for Tehran to scale back aspects of its nuclear program that many nations fear could aid in making a bomb. That would trigger a gradual lifting of the economic sanctions on Iran.

Other Iranian officials, meanwhile, say there is room to discuss international concerns about Iranian uranium enrichment to 20 percent — a level that is higher than most reactors use for power and only a technical step away from weapons-grade uranium suitable for warheads.

Iran now has nearly 440 pounds of 20 percent-enriched uranium in a form that can be quickly upgraded for weapons use, according to the U.N.'s atomic agency, which keeps tabs on Iran's nuclear activities. That is close to — but still below — what is needed for one nuclear weapon.

Even if Iran agrees to stop 20-percent production, ship out its 20-percent stockpile and allow more oversight by U.N. nuclear inspectors, the six powers want more.

A former senior U.N. official who has acted as an intermediary between U.S. and Iranian officials said the six powers want significant cuts in the more than 10,000 centrifuges now enriching uranium.

They also demand that Iran ship out not only the small amount of 20 percent uranium it now has but also most of the tons of low-enriched uranium it has produced. And they want caps on the amount of enriched uranium that Iran would be allowed to keep at any time. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the talks.

Iran says it needs this material to power a future reactor network, and Iranian state television Sunday quoted Araghchi as saying Tehran was ready to discuss its enrichment program but would never ship enriched materials abroad. He described that stance as "our red line."

For the U.S. and its allies, low-enriched uranium is problematic because it can also be used to arm nuclear weapons, albeit the process is longer and more complicated than for 20 percent uranium.

While seeking only to reduce enrichment at a sprawling underground facility at Natanz, the six powers also want complete closure of another enrichment plant at Fordo, south of Tehran. The Fordo site is heavily fortified, making it more difficult to destroy than Natanz if it turns toward making nuclear weapons.

Demands to reduce enrichment instead of stopping it implicitly recognize Iran's right to enrich for peaceful purposes. That already is a victory for Tehran, considering talks began 10 years ago with the international community calling on the Islamic Republic to mothball its enrichment program.

"It's pretty clear that Iran will have to be allowed some degree of enrichment," said former U.S. State Department official Mark Fitzpatrick, who now is a director at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "But the enrichment has to be limited."

That could be a tough sell politically for the U.S. and Israel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.