We won’t abandon Arak nuclear reactor: Iran
2 Dec 2013 6:18 AM IST
‘Your actions and words show you don’t want us to have the Arak heavy water reactor which means you want to deprive us of our rights,’ Salehi was quoted as saying by the website of state broadcaster IRIB.
‘But you should know that it is a red line which we will never cross, likewise enrichment’ of uranium.
Arak is of concern because, in theory, it could provide the Islamic republic with plutonium - an alternative to highly enriched uranium used for a nuclear bomb.
Under a landmark deal reached in Geneva with world powers, Iran has agreed that for six months it will not commission the reactor or transfer fuel or heavy water to the site in exchange for minor relief from UN and Western sanctions that have hit its economy hard. Iran also committed for six months ‘not to make further advances’ at its Fordo and Natanz uranium enrichment sites and at Arak.
Abbas Araqchi, a deputy foreign minister and member of the nuclear negotiating team, insisted Arak ‘should remain as a heavy water power plant’, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran, P5+1 to meet again next week to work on another Nuclear deal
DUBAI: Envoys of Iran and six world powers will meet next week to start working out steps to implement a deal under which Tehran is to curb its nuclear programme in return for some respite from sanctions, a top Iranian negotiator said. The landmark 24 November interim accord between the Islamic Republic and the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain is seen as a first step towards resolving a decade-old dispute that has stirred fears of a new Middle East war. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted by the state-run news agency Fars as saying in a television interview that Tehran was expecting to hear from senior European Union diplomat Helga Schmid soon.
‘Schmid is supposed to call us this week and it’s likely our experts will negotiate in the coming week in Geneva or Vienna to find a mechanism for implementation,’ he said. But, underlining years of mutual distrust, Araqchi said the deal was not legally binding and Iran had the right to undo it.
‘But you should know that it is a red line which we will never cross, likewise enrichment’ of uranium.
Arak is of concern because, in theory, it could provide the Islamic republic with plutonium - an alternative to highly enriched uranium used for a nuclear bomb.
Under a landmark deal reached in Geneva with world powers, Iran has agreed that for six months it will not commission the reactor or transfer fuel or heavy water to the site in exchange for minor relief from UN and Western sanctions that have hit its economy hard. Iran also committed for six months ‘not to make further advances’ at its Fordo and Natanz uranium enrichment sites and at Arak.
Abbas Araqchi, a deputy foreign minister and member of the nuclear negotiating team, insisted Arak ‘should remain as a heavy water power plant’, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran, P5+1 to meet again next week to work on another Nuclear deal
DUBAI: Envoys of Iran and six world powers will meet next week to start working out steps to implement a deal under which Tehran is to curb its nuclear programme in return for some respite from sanctions, a top Iranian negotiator said. The landmark 24 November interim accord between the Islamic Republic and the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain is seen as a first step towards resolving a decade-old dispute that has stirred fears of a new Middle East war. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted by the state-run news agency Fars as saying in a television interview that Tehran was expecting to hear from senior European Union diplomat Helga Schmid soon.
‘Schmid is supposed to call us this week and it’s likely our experts will negotiate in the coming week in Geneva or Vienna to find a mechanism for implementation,’ he said. But, underlining years of mutual distrust, Araqchi said the deal was not legally binding and Iran had the right to undo it.
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