UN Inspectors Arrive in Iran to Visit Arak Heavy Water Facility

The inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Tehran on Saturday to visit Arak heavy water reactor for a third time.

The visit takes place after a recent agreement signed between Tehran and the IAEA on November 11 on the wider inspection of certain nuclear sites.

During their visit to Iran, the IAEA inspectors will hold a meeting with the officials of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and will then visit Arak heavy water installations on Sunday.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, as a sign of goodwill to remove any possible ambiguity about the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, has given a positive response to the request made by the IAEA to visit the plant, the AEOI said in a statement on Thursday.

The inspection occurs in line with the action plan between Iran and the UN nuclear agency.

It will be the third visit to Arak heavy water plant by the IAEA inspectors, Spokesman of the AEOI Behrouz Kamalvandi said.

In earlier remarks late November, Head of the AEOI Ali Akbar Salehi reiterated that Iran is not due to stop activities at its Arak heavy water reactor forever.

“Arak heavy water reactor is a source of pride for Iran,” Salehi said, addressing a ceremony commemorating the martyred Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriyari in Tehran.

He stressed that ignoring Arak heavy water reactor would be tantamount to quitting uranium enrichment right.

“If they wish us not to have such a reactor, this means that they have never been willing to see our nuclear case go back on normal track,” Salehi said.

Addressing certain western states, the AEOI chief said, “If you want to deprive us of a right, you should know that our Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei) has set the red line and we will not relinquish any right, enshrined in the NPT.”

Salehi pointed to the claims made by some western officials that Arak heavy water reactor should stop operation, because it is a source of plutonium production which can be used for atomic bomb production, and said, “The weapon graded plutonium should be free of any toxic materials, whereas Arak reactor does not produce such a kind of plutonium.”