Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization: Producing Reactor Fuel for Us is ‘Like Drinking Water’

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization says that the Islamic Republic has identified the “loopholes” through which the “enemy” entered and caused damage in recent “sabotage” incidents at Iran’s nuclear facilities, and is working to correct the “deployment configuration.”

Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, speaking Tuesday evening, February 9, in a special news interview on Iranian state television, stated: “Today, producing reactor fuel for us is like drinking water” and “we produce it within the framework of international regulations.”

Eslami, referring to “changes in Iran’s enrichment capacity with the production of new generations of centrifuges,” said: “We need to wait for the results of negotiations to lift sanctions in terms of capacity and time” and “in terms of capacity, we are coordinating ourselves with the Foreign Ministry and the negotiating delegation.”

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization expressed hope that by April 9 they would be able to “present a number of nuclear achievements” and said: “The Arak reactor will be completed by the end of next year.”

Concurrently with the eighth round of nuclear negotiations between Western countries and the Islamic Republic of Iran in Vienna, Tuesday, February 9, Sergey Lavrov and Hossein Amirabdollahian, the foreign ministers of Russia and Iran, emphasized in a telephone conversation the issue of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on reviving it as quickly as possible in its original form and with the approval of the UN Security Council.

Earlier, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative in JCPOA revival negotiations, had said: “We are five minutes away from the finish line.”

Ned Price, spokesperson for the US State Department, said Monday, February 7, at a press conference that if the negotiating parties can reach a result in Vienna, Iran must comply with its commitments under the 2015 JCPOA, one of which is making changes at several facilities and removing excess uranium beyond the specified purity level and amount.

US government officials have repeatedly said that diplomacy is the best way to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. They say that if negotiations fail, they will resort to other options.

Source: Voice of America