Russia removes Iran’s enriched uranium as per nuke deal

State Department spokesman Mark Toner described the cargo as a 25,000-pound “combination of forms of low-enriched uranium materials” including five and 20 percent enriched uranium, scrap metal and unfinished fuel plates.

The removal appears to be in keeping with the White House’s nuclear agreement.

Implementation Day, which is expected sometime next month, refers to the date when Iran has completed all of its nuclear commitments under the verification of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, in exchange for the US, EU and United Nations sanctions relief.

Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi has said “the Islamic Republic of Iran will get 137 tons of the so-called yellow cake [uranium concentrate as the original raw material for enrichment]”. Iran maintains that the uranium was for medical purposes. The transfer means that Iran no longer has the fuel needed for a nuclear weapon.

“The shipment today more than triples our previous two- to three-month breakout timeline for Iran to acquire enough weapons-grade uranium for one weapon, and is an important piece of the technical equation that ensures an eventual breakout time of at least one year” by the time the deal is finally implemented, he said.

Russia also confirmed that it had finished the removal of enriched uranium from Iran under the deal, TASS reports, citing Russian diplomatic sources.

Iran had until the end of 2015 to ship out all but 660lb (300kg) of the low-enriched uranium it has stockpiled.

Iran’s foreign ministry threatened on Monday to respond in kind to a USA law adding new travel restrictions on Iranian nationals seeking entry into the United States, warning that the law contravenes the nuclear deal it brokered with world powers last summer. Low-enriched uranium is suited to power generation but can be further enriched to arm nuclear warheads.

Kerry praised Russian Federation, “a country with significant experience in transporting and securing nuclear material”, for taking the material out of Iran and providing natural uranium in exchange.

Under the agreement, Tehran agreed to reduce its stock of enriched uranium, decrease the number of centrifuges in the country and reconfigure the Arak heavy-water reactor, as well as refrain from any uranium enrichment at its Fordow facility. Iranian officials have alleged that the deal-skeptic US Congress was using the law to try to sidestep Washington’s commitment to lift sanctions on Implementation Day.