U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the shipment of more than 25,000 pounds of low-enriched uranium materials from Iran on Monday a “one of the most significant steps” in the international agreement that allows for lifting sanctions against the Middle Eastern country that was suspected of taking steps towards creating a nuclear bomb.
A communication from Russia's nuclear power giant ROSATOM said that the “marking event [the shipment from Iran] took place on December 28, 2015. It was in the framework of preparations, which are now underway, to realize the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions for settling the situation around the Iranian nuclear program adopted in Vienna on July 14, 2015 and approved by the UN Security Council's resolution 2231.”
The agreement reached with Iran and a consortium consisting of the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the European Union, allows Iran to possess “no more than 300 kg [660 pounds] of low-enriched uranium by Implementation Day,” Kerry said in a statement.
“This removal of all this enriched material out of Iran is a significant step toward Iran meeting its commitment,” he said.
Implementation Day refers to the day that the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency verifies Iran's compliance with the terms of the agreement, thereby allowing for economic sanctions to be fully lifted.
However, the there are other steps to reach full compliance, which are intended to lengthen Iran's “breakout time,” which is the time it would take Iran – or any other party – to create a nuclear bomb from the available radioactive material and established infrastructure.
Kerry said the current shipment from Iran to Russia “more than triples,” Iran's breakout time, which had been estimated at 2-3 months. The next steps, however, include “removing much of Iran's uranium enrichment infrastructure, which we understand Iran is moving quickly to achieve,” Kerry's statement said.
Iran, reports the World Nuclear Association, must also “remove and render inoperable the existing core of the Arak Reactor.”
Monday's shipment involved all of Iran's stockpile of nuclear material enriched to 20 percent that was not already processed into fuel plates for the research reactor in Tehran.