Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the IRIB on Monday.
Describing as 'promising' some likely air explorations, especially in the eastern and northern border regions of the country, Salehi said Iran could resume its 20 percent uranium enrichment to the rate that domestic power plants can afford.
Salehi also referred to 35-year-old research reactor in Tehran and stressed its need for upgrading and retrofitting, saying Tehran's reactor has a useful life of about 40 years and it needs to be rebuilt.
Pointing to JCPOA, Salehi said it has various dimensions, and we are in progress in the technical aspect. Iran owns 44,000 centrifuges in Fordow, some of which are in operation, and whenever needed, Iran can resume its 20% uranium enrichment within four days; “this is a special message for the other sides of the nuclear deal,” he noted.
Regarding the latest situation of Arak reactor, Salehi said we welcome the Chinese and Russians to monitor and approve our operations; "they are advanced in this area, and if they confirm our operations, it means safety for us which is a major issue in the nuclear field, and we will take further steps with confidence."
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