Iran removes core of Arak reactor in key nuke deal step

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran has removed the sensitive core of its Arak nuclear reactor and UN inspectors will visit the site on Thursday, January 14 to verify the move crucial to the implementation of Tehran's atomic agreement with major powers, state television said on Thursday, according to Reuters.

Removal of the core from the Arak reactor will largely eliminate its ability to yield nuclear bomb-grade plutonium, and was one of the toughest issues to resolve in the long nuclear negotiations with the six powers.

"The core vessel of the Arak reactor has been removed ... and IAEA inspectors will visit the site to verify it and report it to the IAEA ... We are ready for the implementation day of the deal," spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Behrouz Kamalvandi said.

Kamalvandi said "Implementation Day," when Iran will start to get relief from international sanctions in exchange for curtailing its nuclear program under the July 2015 agreement, would come "very soon."

Under the deal, international sanctions against Iran will be lifted once the IAEA confirms Iran has met its nuclear commitments. Iranian officials expect the IAEA report on this to be issued on Friday. The Vienna-based U.N. watchdog has so far declined to comment on the report.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the European Union's Federica Mogherini will issue a joint statement on Saturday or Sunday on the "Implementation Day" of the nuclear deal and the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian officials.

The U.S. and EU sanctions have choked off nearly 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian exports since early 2012, reducing its oil exports by 60 percent to around 1 million barrels a day.