Iran discovers "considerable" uranium reserves: atomic chief

Recent explorations in Iran have resulted in discovery of considerable amount of natural uranium reserves, Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali-Akbar Salehi, announced here on Saturday.

Over 63 present of Iran's geography has been explored for the uranium reserves and the rest will be surveyed in the next four years, Salehi was quoted as saying by official IRNA news agency.

"I cannot talk about the level of the country's uranium reserves. The important thing is before the aerial survey, we were not much hopeful about uranium ores, but the recent explorations have made us hopeful about the deposits," Salehi told IRNA.

Presently, Iran is extracting uranium from Saghand of Yazd mines in central country, and the mines of Ardakan are also scheduled for exploitation in near future, he said.

The announcement by Iran's atomic chief came before the arrival of experts of the United Nations nuclear watchdog (IAEA) to Tehran for talks on implementation of the recent historic deal between Iran and the world powers reached in July, which put an end to the decade-long disputes over the country's controversial nuclear program.

The U.S.-led Western powers have long suspected that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at obtaining a nuclear weapon, while Tehran insists that it is solely for civilian purposes.

Under the nuclear deal, international inspectors will have access to Iranian nuclear sites to verify that Iran fully implements the deal in exchange for relieving the country of major economic sanctions imposed by the Western powers. Enditem