Ali Akbar Salehi responded to questions made in the program about dismantling centrifuges, buying natural uranium, and other issues of nuclear program. On JCPOA implementation, Salehi told the program that JCPOA had not been implemented; however, “we and the 5+1 have embarked on a series of actions as a prelude to its implementation; in Natanz, we are working in preliminary action to dismantle centrifuges which do not actually work; we have 10,000 active centrifuges, with another 10,000 centrifuges installed but not operative,” Salehi said.
“When the head of AEOI officially announced that the preliminary works to dismantle centrifuges had been embarked on, the authenticity should be respected; however, some circles cast doubt on the news item’s authenticity; in Arak and other facilities, we have not yet even started action; dismantling centrifuges could not be done overnight, since the process is very critical; we should work in a pace and precision so as not to lose time; according to Ministry of Economy, sanctions have a daily damage of $ 150m indirectly,” he detailed. “We are dismantling inoperative centrifuges and which do not enrich uranium; the decision to install these centrifuges was a purely political decision made in the previous cabinet; the reversing the action requires a month or two, and in the process, a number of centrifuges are damaged,” he told the TV program.
“Centrifuges have an inbuilt design problem; a frequent problem is when they are dismantled, the reinstallation would not made them operative for the second time; in Fordow, we agreed to slow the operation pace according to a timetable, and we have not yet received any warning which had been only on the newspaper as news stories; any authentic warning should come from the president or the Leader and should be officially communicated,” he asserted.
“We have launched the process since two weeks ago, and work according to a strict timetable to prevent damage to centrifuges,” Salehi emphasized, ensuring that the process had been done according to presidential decree.
“In Fordow, no dismantling had been on process; however, some preliminary actions have been carried out; we will wait for the IAEA official position on this to go forward which will be December 15, and if only the outcome is good for us, we will start the actual dismantling in Fordow and Natanz,” Salehi told the program.
“Our priority is to eliminate the PMD (possible military dimension) from the IAEA Board of Governors papers; the reference authority is JCPOA Overseeing Council, and work according to decrees from the Council; we have agreed that we will dilute 9 metric tons of enriched uranium or sell the amount to foreign countries; according to JCPOA, its fate should be known; therefore, we agreed to sell the enriched uranium to enjoy the advantage of entering the enriched uranium market,” Salehi argued.
“We will receive in turn 140 metric tons of natural uranium; the payment for this amount will be the value of the enriched uranium (9 metric tons) and the price of technical work done to do so; 50 tons of natural uranium will be considered as payment for technical work,” he concluded.
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