Iran proceeds with the construction of a new nuclear power plant

Iran has begun construction of a new nuclear power plant in Khuzestan province in the southwest of the country, according to the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) on Saturday.

And the head of the organization, Muhammad Islami, announced in a speech broadcast on state television the start of construction of the Karun Atomic Energy Plant with a capacity of 300 megawatts in the Darkhwin region in Khuzestan.

He added that construction of the station will take seven years and is expected to cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion.

Islami said that “a French company was initially scheduled to build” this station, but the company reneged on its “commitments” after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“Later, other countries avoided cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran due to sanctions,” he added.

Under the international agreement on the Iranian nuclear deal concluded in 2015, Iran agreed to stop operating the Fordow nuclear plant and to limit uranium enrichment to the 3.67% threshold, as part of a package of restrictions imposed on its nuclear activities aimed at preventing the development of a nuclear weapon.

Iran has repeatedly denied plans to develop an atomic bomb.

The agreement allowed the lifting of many sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic, in in exchange for reducing its nuclear activities and ensuring the tranquility of its program.

However, the effects of the deal have all but disappeared since former US President Donald Trump decided to unilaterally withdraw his country from the deal in 2018 and re-impose harsh sanctions on Iran.

Since then, Iran has reopened the Fordow plant and started producing 60% enriched uranium there last month.

Iran and the parties still included in the agreement, with the coordination of the European Union and the auspices of the United Nations and with the indirect participation of the United States, started talks to revive the agreement in April 2021. After being been suspended several times, it seemed that an agreement had been in the works for about two months, before faltering, again due to points of difference between Washington and Tehran.

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