A delegation of Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom was in Iran to discuss re-tuning the Fordow uranium enrichment facility, Russia’s Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan told TASS on Sunday.
Apparently, Moscow is satisfied with the level of Russian-Iranian cooperation with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Tehran’s nuclear program, so much so that Ambassador Dzhagaryan said the visiting Rosatom delegation discussed “certain practical aspects of the project to reconfigure the Fordow reactor.”
“We hope to see soon the results of these consultations,” Dzhagaryan said.
The uranium enrichment facility Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) is located 20 miles northeast of the Iranian city of Qom, near Fordow village. The site was revealed in September 2009 as the second Iranian uranium enrichment facility, the other one located in Natanz.
The JCPOA, signed in Vienna in the summer of 2015, involves Iran, Russia, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. It stipulates that Tehran should produce no weapons-grade plutonium and reduce its stockpiles of enriched uranium in return for the removal of international sanctions.
After Iran implemented its obligations, as verified by IAEA inspections, then-US President Barack Obama lifted sanctions imposed on Tehran. Other restrictions, including sanctions on the production of ballistic missiles, remained in place.
President Donald Trump has since announced that Washington would seek to make changes in the JCPOA in order to curb Iran’s “destabilizing influence.” Trump wants the restrictions on Iranian Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBMs) to be incorporated into a revised JCPOA, as well as removing the sunset clause from the deal.
Trump said he would renew US sanctions against Iran the next time the JCPOA renewal comes up, unless those two demands are met. His stance may gain support from one or more European signatories.
The Russian ambassador said both Tehran and Moscow are concerned about the situation around JCPOA. He noted that “there are reasons to understand our European counterparts also worry about this, as they had applied much effort to reach the deal.”
“I would like to stress once again – Iran observes fully its obligations under JCPOA,” the ambassador reiterated. “This deal is the result of long, complicated international talks and it should remain as it was in the summer 2015. There can be no question of any changes.”
According to the NY Times in February 2016, “under the terms of the nuclear agreement with Iran, two-thirds of the centrifuges inside Fordow have been removed in recent months, along with all nuclear material. The facility is banned from any nuclear-related work and is being converted to other uses, eliminating the threat that prompted the attack plan, at least for the next 15 years.”
However, according to Western media, in 2016, Iran stationed a anti-aircraft S-300 missile system at the site. Just to be on the safe side…
