Russian Official: Transfer of Iran's Four Percent Uranium to Russia by Year-End

The Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported on Tuesday, citing the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, that the transfer of nearly 9 tons of Iran's low-enriched uranium to Russia will be completed "as planned by the end of this year". On Tuesday, December 15, Sergey Ryabkov, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, assessed the implementation of the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement of the Islamic Republic with the 5+1 group, as "generally positive". According to Mr. Ryabkov, the process of transferring more than eight and a half tons of Iran's four percent uranium will be "completed by the end of this year, which is about two weeks from now". Earlier this month, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization announced that a "contract" for the sale of 9 tons of four percent uranium to Russia had been signed, and with this sale, Iran would "effectively" enter the "club of uranium enrichment service sellers" in the world. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, stated on Tuesday, December 3, that "we are selling about 9 tons of enriched uranium to the Russians, converting the enrichment money and receiving its raw material, and in return, we will import 140 tons of natural uranium, which is a very high figure". Before the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, who also represented this country in the 5+1 group, the representative of this country at the International Atomic Energy Agency had also reported that Moscow expects the nuclear agreement between Iran and the six world powers to be implemented from January - next month - and the exchange of Iran's enriched uranium with its unenriched type by Russia to be completed by the end of this year. According to the Vienna nuclear agreement concluded on July 14 this year, Iran agreed to halt many of its nuclear activities, including the exchange of enriched uranium for unenriched uranium as part of these commitments. Sergey Ryabkov also reported on Tuesday that work on "modernizing the Fordow enrichment facilities" near the city of Qom is also beginning. Abbas Araqchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, had previously told reporters on December 3 that Tehran expects the nuclear agreement with the six world powers to enter the implementation phase by early January 2016, which is about two weeks from now. Before that, the International Atomic Energy Agency has the task of verifying the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. The initial stages of the nuclear agreement will also be carried out under the supervision of this agency. Following the limitation of the nuclear program, international sanctions against Iran will be lifted. The lifting of sanctions will occur on a day referred to as "Implementation Day". In this context, the Board of Governors of the Agency accepts Amano's report, Russia reported on the exchange of Iran's enriched uranium this month, the agreement between Iran and the 1+5 regarding the proposed resolution to the Agency's Board of Governors, Salehi confirmed a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of Energy in Oman.