Iran has begun dismantling centrifuges, nuclear chief says
Atomic agency head Ali Akbar Salehi announces beginning of implementation of Vienna deal, as hard-line lawmakers said to complain
The head of Iran’s nuclear agency said the country has begun taking centrifuges offline and implementing the agreement reached with world powers four months ago in Vienna.
Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told the Japanese news agency Kyodo that the Islamic Republic had started “preliminary work” to implement the accord, including reducing the number of centrifuges it runs.
Reducing the number of centrifuges is a key part of the deal reached in July, which will see the West lift crippling sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on enrichment activity and oversight of the country’s nuclear program.
Salehi said Tehran was reducing the number of centrifuges at Natanz and Fordo, two of the country’s nuclear facilities, under President Hassan Rouhani’s order.
The reduction in enrichment is meant to ensure that Iran cannot produce a nuclear weapon under the July 14 deal.
In September, Salehi said Iran was prepared to begin the “huge task” of disabling parts of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, but US officials said the task would probably take months.
On Monday, 20 hardline members of Iran’s parliament sent a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in which they complained about dismantling centrifuges in two enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordo, according to Reuters.
“Unfortunately in the last two days some contractors entered Fordo and started dismantling centrifuges… they said they could finish the job in two weeks,” the lawmakers said, according to the news agency, citing Iranian media.
