Iran’s yellowcake deal with France to be revived

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 29 By Umid Niayesh – Trend: Iran has 20 metric tons of yellowcake in France, which was stored in the country based on an agreement during the administration of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the country’s last shah, Saeed Yari, the Chief Secretary of the Organization on Iran's National Interest Protection told Trend July 29. Yari made the remarks while commenting on the recent statement by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius saying that Tehran and Paris have already experienced cooperation in the nuclear technology field. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said during a joint press conference with his visiting French counterpart in Tehran on July 29 that France has agreed to have a role in Iran 's nuclear industry. Yari said that France refused to send Iran the stored yellowcake (a type of uranium concentrate powder obtained from leach solutions, in an intermediate step in the processing of uranium ores), despite its commitment and the dispute between the two countries still remains. He further expressed hope that in the new period of nuclear cooperation, due to achieved comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers, the French side would approve to compensate Iran’s loses regarding the issue. France would return the same amount of the stored yellowcake to Iran to be used in mutual and multilateral nuclear industry cooperation, Yari added. In 1974, Iran reportedly invested $1 billion in a French uranium enrichment plant owned by Eurodif, a European consortium. France and Iran then ratified an agreement according to which France was to supply five 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors plus enriched uranium as their fuel, as well as help Iran set up a nuclear research center. To make sure that Iran would receive the enriched uranium, the Shah agreed to buy Sweden 's 10 percent share in Eurodif. Ever since the Shah's regime was overthrown in February 1979, France has refused either to deliver Iran 's share of the low enriched uranium or refund its payments with interest. Edited by CN Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh Stay up to date with latest Iran news on our specialized Facebook page Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency