VIENNA, December 16. /TASS/. Iranian specialists will complete works on dismantling the core of the heavy water reactor in Arak in two-three weeks, Russia’s permanent representative at international organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov told journalists on Wednesday.
"Iranians say this work can be completed in 2-3 weeks," Voronkov said. "They say it is attainable in the rather short timeframe," he added.
The diplomat noted that Iran is working on reactor core dismantling together with China and the United States. "Formal organizational and technical issues exist but from the point of view of implementation everything is proceeding in the routine mode," Voronkov stressed. "This issue will disappear from the agenda in 2-3 weeks," he said.
Iran to send enriched uranium to Russia in coming days
According to Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov, Iran will send the surplus amount of enriched uranium to Russia already in the coming days.
"The logistics have been established through the port at Bushehr and it [enriched uranium] will be loaded and sent to Russia in coming days," the envoy said.
According to Voronkov, the success of the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program has made it possible for the world community to focus on the Syrian settlement.
"Work on Syria began only after an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program was reached," he said. "Everyone felt that it was possible to negotiate. Not to scare each other, not to pound each other but to negotiate." According to him, the idea of applying a multilateral format to the Syrian settlement "was promoted by Frank-Walter Steinmeier (German Foreign Minister -TASS), it was supported by Sergey Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister - TASS)." "It worked," Voronkov said.
"The prototype of such work on a complex issue was developed, to a large extent, during the work of the P5+1 group and Iran," the diplomat said. He recalled that at the initial stage Iran, just like Syria, did not take part in the negotiation process. "The restoration of confidence was proceeding gradually, step by step. I believe that, if there is a positive movement forward within the framework of 19 countries, Syria will join the process at some point," he noted.
Voronkov added that the solution of the issue of Iran’s nuclear program shows that "in the current environment, diplomacy is an absolutely effective and reliable mechanism, if there is political will from all sides.".
Agreement on Iran’s nuclear program
On 14 July 2015, the P5+1 group of international mediators (five permanent members of UN Security Council - US, UK, Russia, China, France - and Germany) and Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran will not produce weapons-grade plutonium and limit its stockpile of uranium enriched to 3.67% to 300 kilograms for the next 15 years. Tehran also agreed to modernize its nuclear facilities and use them for exclusively peaceful purposes.
Sanctions will be gradually removed from Iran. The arms embargo imposed by UN Security Council will be kept in place for five years, ban for supplying ballistic missile technologies to Iran - for eight years. Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will monitor nuclear facilities in Iran for the next 25 years. If any points of the agreement are violated by Iran, sanctions against the country will be renewed.
On July 20, the corresponding resolution on Iran’s nuclear program agreement was adopted by UN Security Council.