Off the wire
• Beijing upset Liaoning to take Game 1 at CBA finals  • Urgent: Indian Parliament passes landmark land acquisition law  • First Singapore patent recognized in Cambodia  • 296 shuttlers to compete at Vietnam's international championship  • Chinese celebs arrested for beating up taxi driver  • EU's renewable energy consumption accounts for 15 pct in 2013: Eurostat  • Maldives former defence minister's family appeals to int'l community for fair trial  • 1st LD: 8 killed in southern Afghanistan's car bombing  • China to host first-ever professional boxing bouts  • Chinese lawmakers file 522 motions at annual parliamentary session  
You are here: 　 Home

Iran says Fordow facilities to undergo changes under possible deal

Xinhua, March 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iran's underground uranium enrichment Fordow facilities will continue operating with some changes if a deal between Iran and the world powers is reached, Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.

"Under the possible agreement, the Fordow facility, which has been used to enrich high-grade uranium, will continue its activities with a different application," Tasnim quoted Iranian nuclear negotiator Davoud Mohammadnia as saying.

Earlier, Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali-Akbar Salehi, said that Iran will not shut down its nuclear plants and will not abandon any of its achievements in the nuclear industry.

However, some amendments in the function and performance of the plants are possible for the sake of transparency in the country's "peaceful" nuclear activities, Salehi said.

Iran's Arak heavy water plant will undergo some amendments subject to a potential nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, plus Germany, he said.

Iran will only agree with a deal that would fully safeguard Iran's nuclear rights and achievements, Mohammadnia said on Tuesday echoing Salehi's remarks.

All the sanctions against Iran, either imposed by the United States or the European Union, should be lifted immediately after the agreement takes effect, he said.

The world powers need to take some difficult decisions if they want the negotiations with Tehran to end in a final deal, another Iranian nuclear negotiator Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Tuesday.

"The nuclear negotiations are moving on the right path and we hope that the other side will pave the ground for reaching a final deal by better understanding of realities and taking hard and necessary decisions," Takht-Ravanchi was quoted as saying by semi-official Fars news agency.

The P5+1 group is currently negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program in the hope of reaching a deal by the end of June.

The deal would likely include Iran cutting back its nuclear program, reportedly for at least ten years, in exchange for a lifting of crippling economic sanctions. Endit