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Iran slows nuclear advances in possible goodwill gesture

Taken together, Iran’s pledge of new cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the slowdown in its overall nuclear program could facilitate agreement next week in Geneva.

Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Ali Akbar Salehi (L) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano, shakes hands under portraits of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (L) and Iran's founder of Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (R), following their meeting in Tehran on November 11, 2013. Amano arrived in the Iranian capital to discuss Iran's nuclear programme after top world diplomats fail to clinch a long-sought deal to curb Tehran's nuclear act
Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi (L) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano, shakes hands under portraits of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran's founder of Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, following their meeting in Tehran, Nov. 11, 2013. — GETTY/AFP/Atta Kenare

Although Iran and the international community failed to achieve a breakthrough in Geneva last week, Iran has slowed its nuclear program in what could be a goodwill gesture intended to show that it will abide by a nuclear agreement.

According to the latest quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has added only four rudimentary centrifuges to its main uranium enrichment plant at Natanz since August, for a total of 15,240 — of which about 10,000 are operating. In the previous reporting period of May to August, Iran put more than 1,800 new centrifuges into Natanz.

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