Iran to receive 130 tons of uranium: Nuclear energy organization

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says the country is soon to receive as much as 130 tons of uranium from abroad.

The organization’s spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, made the announcement while speaking to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) News on Thursday.

The Joint Commission monitoring the implementation of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries approved the purchase on the part of the Islamic Republic during a meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Wednesday.

Kamalvandi said that the country had previously bought 220 tons of the material, and was currently in possession of a total of 350 tons. “Given that this amounts to a valuable resource, it places us in a very favorable position,” he said.

“Of course, toward industrialization, we need more resources. Therefore, we continue to prospect and extract [uranium] inside the country, and have accorded priority to this task.”

Planned enriched uranium production

Kamalvandi also said the country was to produce 100 kilograms of enriched uranium, and noted that the Commission had approved that the amount of the enriched material be calculated in accordance with the method proposed by the Islamic Republic.

“Now that our interpretation of the calculation method has been approved and applied, we are soon to start cleaning out the deposits at nuclear facilities and there would be space for 100 kilos more,” he said.

Iran had refrained from stocktaking until our approach was approved, he said.

American guarantee

The nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was clinched in July 2015. As per the accord, which came into force in January 2016, the six world powers committed to lifting the nuclear-relation sanctions against Iran and the Islamic Republic agreed to limit its nuclear work in certain areas.

However, in a highly controversial move, the US Congress voted last December to extend Washington’s sanctions law against Tehran, known as the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) for another 10 years. The law authorizes the US president to re-impose bans. It was first adopted in 1996 to punish investments in the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program and its support for anti-Israeli resistance groups.

The Commission had convened to address Iran’s concerns about the ratification of the ISA.

Kamalvandi said the American side had approved during the session to prevent the implementation of the law by applying relevant waivers.

The US State Department had said following the ratification of the law that it would waive those sanctions under the ISA that were nuclear-related.

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