Iran Says Producing Uranium Metal for ‘Peaceful Purposes’

Date: 19 January 2021 - 22:04

News ID: ۸۶۷۱۵

TEHRAN (Dispatches) - Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran Saeed Khatibzadeh on Tuesday downplayed the concerns expressed by the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal regarding Tehran’s nuclear activities.
The spokesman explained that utilization of a uranium metal production factory in Isfahan, stipulated in the Parliament’s recent legislation, and the production of advanced fuel (silicide) to be used at the Tehran Research Reactor, are two totally separate issues.
"What the IAEA has reported on applies to the start of research and development activities to design more advanced fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor dubbed silicide fuel — of which Iran had already informed the IAEA two years ago and has recently provided [the agency] with the designing information,” the Iranian spokesperson said.
"The Design Information Questionnaire (DIQ) for Isfahan uranium metal plant has not been submitted to the IAEA yet and this measure will be taken following the necessary arrangements and within a deadline set by the law.”
On January 4, the Iranian parliament passed a law, mandating the country with designing such a factory as well as other countermeasures in response to the West’s grave violations of the JCPOA.
The parliamentary law obliged the United States to lift the sanctions that it restored against Iran in 2018 after illegally and unilaterally leaving the nuclear agreement. It also required the European trio to resume their trade with Iran, which they stopped after the American sanctions came back into force.
The legislative body has given the quartet until February 21 to meet their obligations towards Iran under the nuclear accord.