TEHRAN - The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says the Islamic Republic’s nuclear industry has achieved its current level of progress through the guidance and support of the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Muhammad Eslami said that long-term strategic policies devised under the martyred Leader laid the foundation for the development of nuclear technology and power generation in the country.
He noted how, pursuing those policies, Iran continued to advance, despite sustained efforts by enemies to obstruct the country’s progress.
“Despite all the obstacles and difficulties that Iran’s enemies have created to prevent the country from succeeding, and despite the numerous operations they have carried out since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, by God’s grace, this objective, namely the country’s progress, has been realized, and Iran’s standing has been transformed,” he stated.
Turning to the country’s scientific and technological development, Eslami said the martyred Leader had consistently backed strategic sectors, including nuclear technology, from the outset.
“In both the defense sector and strategic fields that contribute to national strength, such as nuclear technology, the martyred Leader stood firmly from the very beginning with remarkable perseverance.”
He said the country’s general policies had been drafted with a view to long-term planning, noting that they had called for the expansion of nuclear power generation and research into nuclear fusion decades before the technology gained broader international attention.
“The country’s general policies were formulated with extraordinary foresight. Even at that time, the general policies in the field of energy specifically called for the development of nuclear power plants and nuclear fusion technology. Today, thirty years later, fusion technology is regarded as a new source of virtually limitless energy, comparable to the energy of the sun,” he said,
“The developed world is now pursuing this technology at great speed, with countries actively engaged in research in this field. Yet our martyred Leader issued these directives three decades ago,” he added. 
Eslami said the martyred Leader first emphasized the need to reach 20,000 megawatts of nuclear electricity generation capacity in 2007, describing the target as a continuing national priority.
He said the first unit of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in southern Iran is currently in operation, while construction of the plant’s second and third units is underway.
According to Eslami, plans have also been prepared to build additional nuclear power plants along Iran’s southern coastline, in Khuzestan Province, which is likewise situated in the south, and the northern Iranian Golestan Province,