Tehran, YJC. Salehi says Iran will not shut down the Arak heavy water facilities.
The Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Aliakbar Salehi meeting
ayatollah Nouri Hamedani said that the Arak reactor will not be shut down,
adding "Iranian scientists have formerly tried enriching uranium to 20 percent.
We have fuel for 4 years for the Tehran reactor.”
Fars reports that he further said "None of the rights stated in the IAEA
statute nor in the NPT have been trespassed in the Geneva agreement.”
Maintaining that there are trust-building measures in the agreement, Salehi
said "The final goal has been made clear. Some measures have also been defined
and the two sides will act on par.”
The Head of the Atomic Energy Organization pointed out that according to
the agreement the 20-percent enrichment will be halted and added "We did not
intend to do the 20-percent enrichment from the start. When the fuel for the Tehran
reactor was over and the West denied us fuel, Iranian scientists started to do
the 20-percent enrichment and now we have enough fuel for 4 years for the Tehran
reactor.”
"We will not lose anything there,”
he maintained, further pointing out "Any time we need we will be able to resume
the 20-percent enrichment in a short while.”
He added that the West had urged Iran to abandon the Arak heavy water
reactor for a light water one provided by them and said "We have not trespassed
that precious achievement and we do not mean to lose it.”