Iran's nuclear capabilities have become a major point of contention between the United States and Iran. Iran is believed to possess approximately 440 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium. While this is still some distance from the 90% enrichment required for weapons-grade material, it would be much faster to increase the enrichment to 90% at this stage. For years, Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes, but Israel, the United States, and other Western countries accuse Iran of preparing for the development of nuclear weapons. They argue that Iran's current 60% enrichment level is far higher than the level required for a civilian nuclear energy program (between 3% and 5%). Naisan Rafati, a senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, stated that every time the US and Iran approach an agreement, "there is always progress on some issues and stalemate on others. Merely 'close to an agreement' is not enough—even with 95% consensus, the remaining 5% is often the most difficult to resolve." Rafati indicated that on the Iranian nuclear program, the two sides disagree on both the substantive content and the order of events in an agreement. He pointed out that "Iran wants to leave the details for later talks, while Washington wants to be clearer from the start. Therefore, the negotiations cover both familiar topics—Iran's enriched uranium stockpile and the future of its nuclear activities—and some newer topics."
