Iran, Russia agree to jointly produce nuclear fuel

Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI) said on Saturday that Russia and Iran have reached an agreement to jointly produce nuclear fuel.

A preliminary agreement with Russia on the joint production of nuclear fuel was reached during the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the major world powers in 2015, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of AEOI, told semi-official ISNA news.

"We need Russia's assistance in this sphere," Salehi said, adding that the roadmap has been developed for the joint production, which will take two years to be implemented.

Saleh also announced a Tehran-Astana deal to buy 950 tons of yellow cake from Kazakhstan, which is part of Iran's international nuclear deal known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"The deal (on yellow cake) is expected to be implemented in three years," he said, as 650 tons of the yellow cake shipment will arrive in Tehran in two batches in two years and the remaining 300 tons will arrive in the third year.

The JCPOA is an international agreement reached in Vienna on July 14, 2015 between Iran, the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: China, France, Russia, Britain, the US plus Germany) and the European Union. Based on the agreement, Iran agreed to scale back its nuclear activities to a considerable degree in return for the lift of international sanctions.