Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, made the remark in response to a question by IRNA on whether the AEOI has any cooperation with the country’s military sectors in the construction of heavy submarines and warships.

“We have no cooperation with military sectors. We are working on a nuclear propulsion project, but that is also a peaceful project. If all conditions are met, it will take at least 15 years for the project to be completed,” he said.

Salehi was then asked about how trustworthy the Europeans are concerning their commitments under the nuclear deal.

“I think Europe does not look at the JCPOA as an economic factor, but as a security issue, and security is very important for Europe. Especially in the current situation where the Middle East is undergoing serious developments, the consequence of which will no doubt affect Europe’s interests. My assumption is that Europe does not wish to do something that would further put its security under threat. So, I am hopeful that Europeans would start taking measures in the not so distant future that would indicate their compliance with their commitments.”

Asked whether those measures include the establishment of a trade mechanism with Iran, Salehi answered yes.

The nuclear chief then thanked Russia for its cooperation with Iran, saying “in my opinion, the Russians have done beyond their commitments [for Iran], but still within the framework of the IAEA’s regulations.”

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, hailed the country’s progress in the nuclear energy sector, adding “we have made so much progress in the field of nuclear knowledge and industry that instead of using reverse engineering, we can now design a new reactor fuel from scratch.”

He said Tehran nuclear reactor used to run on an older version of fuel, but the new design for the 20% fuel will increase the reactor’s efficiency.

Salehi added that the country is on the verge of designing the new, upgraded fuel that can be used in any reactor.

“Designing reactors has now become a very possible task for the Iranian experts,” he said.

The nuclear chief then noted the Iranian nuclear scientists’ success at producing the raw material for the tracer FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose), which is used in PET scan, adding “the raw material for FDG is Oxygen-18, which we succeeded in producing in Arak reactor with 95% purity.”

He added once the hydrolysis stage is completed, Iran will no longer need to export Oxygen-18.

“Our production capability in this field has increased to the extent that we can export a part of our products to other countries,” Salehi maintained.

The Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, who is in Vienna to attend the 62nd Annual Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference, met with Rosatom’s CEO Alexey Likhachev on Monday, on the sidelines of the conference.

During the meeting, Salehi extended gratitude for developing peaceful atomic cooperation between Iran and Russia and referred to the eagerness of his organization for further developing scientific cooperation in areas of nuclear energy research and development and peaceful application of the technology in different areas and it was very welcomed by the Russians.

Also in this meeting, the two sides exchanged views on the latest status of the new under-construction power plants.

Likhachev, in this meeting, for his part, reaffirmed his country’s support for the JCPOA and referred to the recent visit of Russian President Putin to Tehran and described it as successful. He voiced welcome for deepening bilateral cooperation in different sections of atomic energy industry.

He also voiced Rosatom’s readiness to extend bilateral cooperation with Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.

Heading a delegation, Salehi left Tehran for the Austrian capital on Sunday to attend the 62nd Annual Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference, which is slated to be held on September 17-21 at the Vienna International Centre (VIC) in the Austrian capital.

On the sidelines of the event, Salehi is expected to meet with high-ranking nuclearofficials from the IAEA and other member states to discuss bilateral and regional nuclear cooperation as well as the Iran nuclear deal also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).