Iran says construction started on new nuclear reactor

Tehran has been under biting US sanctions since 2018, when former US president Donald Trump withdrew his country from a landmark nuclear deal which granted Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear activities designed to prevent it from developing an atomic warhead.

Iran’s nuclear programme is the subject of international criticism, with widespread concern from experts outside the country that the Iranian civilian nuclear programme is being used as part of a clandestine effort to build nuclear weapons.

Iran warns US of targeting suspected spy ships in Middle East

Iran has always denied any ambition to develop a nuclear weapons capability, insisting that its activities are entirely peaceful.

In January, the director general of the UN’s IAEA nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, lamented that Iran was “restricting” cooperation with the agency and called the Iran nuclear situation “frustrating”.

On Thursday, Eslami announced the construction of a nuclear power plant complex in Sirik, on the Strait of Hormuz, comprising four individual plants with a combined production capacity of 5,000 megawatts.

“We must reach the production capacity of 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power in the country” by the year 2041, Eslami said while on a trip to the region with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Only five countries – the United States, France, China, Russia and South Korea – currently have more than 20,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity installed.

The Sirik plants are expected to be fully operational by 2031, IRNA reported.

Iran currently only has one operational nuclear power plant in the harbour city of Bushehr, which was initially built in the 1970s with the help of German companies and later completed with Russian help.

Additional reporting by dpa

Темы и теги

Иран Политика

ядерный реактор новый реактор ядерный Дональд Трамп Испахан начало строительство санкция заявление