Iran has removed the core of its Arak heavy water nuclear reactor and filled it with cement as required under a nuclear deal signed with world powers last year, the Fars news agency said on Monday, citing an informed Iranian source.
Any such move, reducing the plant’s ability to produce plutonium, might signal imminent implementation of the nuclear deal and clear the way for Tehran to receive relief from economic sanctions.
Separately, the EU’s foreign policy chief said that EU nuclear-related sanctions on Iran could be lifted soon.
“I can tell you that my expectation is that this day could come rather soon. The implementation of the agreements is proceeding well,” EU Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said during a visit to Prague.
The fate of the reactor in central Iran was one of the toughest sticking points in the long nuclear negotiations that led to an agreement in July last year between Iran and six world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Under the deal’s terms, Iran accepted that the Arak reactor would be reconfigured so it could not yield fissile plutonium usable in a nuclear bomb.
China, the US, France, Britain, Russia and Germany have agreed to participate in the redesign and the construction of the modernized reactor.
Tehran has said that the 40-megawatt, heavy-water plant is aimed at producing isotopes for cancer and other medical treatments. It has denied that any of its nuclear activity is aimed at developing weapons.
Iranian atomic energy agency spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said in an interview with the Etemad newspaper published on Monday that “Iran has met its commitments under the July nuclear agreement earlier than expected.”
“Implementation of JCPOA will finish in the next seven days,” he added.
“We are hopeful that the sanctions against Iran will be lifted in the next few days,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state television on Monday.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that “we are days away from implementation, if all goes well.”
Some traders said oil’s deep slide so far this year, including its 6 percent slump on Monday, was being fueled in part by signs that Iran might emerge from crushing sanctions sooner rather than later, allowing it to ramp up production after years of constraint.
“The firm push for normalization with Iran has taken the last shred of geopolitical risk out of traders’ minds,” said Clayton Vernon, a trader and economist with proprietary trading firm Aquivia LLC in New Jersey.
Iran said last year that it hopes to boost exports by about 500,000 barrels per day as soon as sanctions ease, a move dealers fear will add to a global surplus that has cut prices to 12-year lows.
More recently Iranian officials have suggested they would seek to avoid flooding the world with more unwanted crude oil, but provided no details on what that would mean in practical terms.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
RSS