Iran says exporting its heavy water to eight countries

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said the country must have its own nuclear power plants, and produce the fuel required for those plants, as well as the nuclear medicine it needs, Press TV reported.

Speaking in a televised interview on Monday, Kamalvandi said the country has never stopped producing heavy water, and has made good progress so far in this regard.

“Despite the 10- or eight-year restrictions on our program imposed by the JCPOA (the 2015 nuclear deal), they will be ultimately lifted as time goes by, and we will have no limit by the 10th year,” he noted, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

He said after the conclusion of the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, some countries were even willing to invest in production of the fuel required for Iranian nuclear power plants inside the country, but the Americans prevented them from doing so.

US President Donald Trump, a hawkish critic of the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers – the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – unilaterally withdrew Washington from the agreement in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism.

Iran remained fully compliant with the JCPOA for an entire year, waiting for the cosignatories to fulfill their end of the bargain by offsetting the impacts of American bans on the Iranian economy.

But as the European parties failed to do so, the Islamic Republic moved in May 2019 to suspend its JCPOA commitments under Article 26 and Article 36 of the deal covering Tehran’s legal rights.