Iran’s FM Says Document on Redesigning Arak Reactor Ready
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday announced that an official document for re-configuring Iran’s Arak nuclear reactor is ready, but the parties have yet to agree about signing it.
In a joint press conference with visiting Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders Telematin here in Tehran, Zarif noted that the document is ready to be signed.
However, he added, how to sign the document has yet to be agreed upon, since all foreign ministers will not take part in upcoming Vienna talks, due to be held on the Syrian crisis.
Zarif stressed that the document should be immediately signed, predicting that alternative ways may be used to get the document signed.
According to the text of a comprehensive nuclear deal (known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA) recently finalized by Tehran and world powers, Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor is to be reconfigured.
On Thursday, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran was waiting for an official document from the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).
"Until that document is produced we certainly will not take any measures vis-a-vis the Arak heavy water research reactor," he said.
Tehran and the Group 5+1 (also known as P5+1 or E3+3) on July 14 reached a conclusion over the text of a comprehensive 159-page deal on Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
The nuclear deal would terminate all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran after coming into force.
October 18 was the so-called “adoption day” for the deal, which came 90 days after the two sides concluded their intensive negotiations in the Austrian capital.
