WASHINGTON — A ship carrying more than
11,000kg of low-enriched uranium materials left Iran for Russia on
Monday in an Iranian step towards honouring a July 14 nuclear deal with major powers, the US said.
Under
the landmark nuclear accord, certain US, European Union (EU) and United
Nations (UN) sanctions are to be removed in exchange for Iran accepting
long-term curbs on a nuclear program that the West has long suspected
was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb.
A key provision of the agreement, negotiated by Iran with the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany, is Tehran’s commitment to reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to below 300kg.
Low-enriched uranium can yield fissile material for nuclear weapons if it is much further refined.
"The shipment included the removal of all of Iran’s nuclear material enriched to 20% that was not already in the form of fabricated fuel plates for the Tehran Research Reactor," US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a written statement.
"This removal of all this enriched material out of Iran is a significant step toward Iran meeting its commitment to have no more than 300kg of low-enriched uranium by Implementation Day," Mr Kerry said.
Implementation Day refers to the date when the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog, confirms Iran has taken a series of steps to curb its nuclear programme, paving the way to US, EU and UN sanctions relief.
Mr Kerry said the low-enriched uranium shipment would more than triple Iran’s "breakout time" of an estimated two to three months.
"Breakout time" refers to the amount of time needed to obtain enough nuclear material to make a single atomic bomb.
With full implementation, the nuclear deal is supposed to push Iran’s breakout time to at least one year.
Reuters
A key provision of the agreement, negotiated by Iran with the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany, is Tehran’s commitment to reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to below 300kg.
Low-enriched uranium can yield fissile material for nuclear weapons if it is much further refined.
"The shipment included the removal of all of Iran’s nuclear material enriched to 20% that was not already in the form of fabricated fuel plates for the Tehran Research Reactor," US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a written statement.
"This removal of all this enriched material out of Iran is a significant step toward Iran meeting its commitment to have no more than 300kg of low-enriched uranium by Implementation Day," Mr Kerry said.
Implementation Day refers to the date when the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog, confirms Iran has taken a series of steps to curb its nuclear programme, paving the way to US, EU and UN sanctions relief.
Mr Kerry said the low-enriched uranium shipment would more than triple Iran’s "breakout time" of an estimated two to three months.
"Breakout time" refers to the amount of time needed to obtain enough nuclear material to make a single atomic bomb.
With full implementation, the nuclear deal is supposed to push Iran’s breakout time to at least one year.
Reuters
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