GENEVA — The top nuclear officials from Iran and the United States took part in high-level talks on Monday as the two sides sought to meet a March deadline for finalizing the outline of an agreement to limit Tehran’s nuclear program.
Ali Akbar Salehi, the director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, joined Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, in the negotiations, which began Sunday night in a luxury hotel near Lake Geneva. Iran’s decision to include Mr. Salehi in its delegation prompted Washington to arrange for Ernest J. Moniz, the American energy secretary, to join Secretary of State John Kerry on the American side.
The current round of negotiations signals the first time that the talks have been broadened to include the top nuclear officials. Their participation is a reflection of the complexity of the potential agreement, which seeks to place constraints on Iran’s nuclear program in return for suspending and eventually removing economic sanctions.
The presence of Mr. Salehi and Mr. Moniz could ease progress, though there were no indications that an agreement was imminent.
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Now, there are reports that the United States might allow Iran to operate 6,500 centrifuges, or perhaps even more, if Iran reconfigured its array of centrifuges or took other steps to reduce their efficiency.
Other issues in the talks include limits on the research and development of new types of centrifuges, which could be installed in clandestine plants, and constraints on Iran’s ability to produce plutonium, which can be used to make a nuclear bomb. The negotiators also need to agree on monitoring provisions to guard against cheating and on the duration of any agreement.
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