Iran Nuclear Chief Wants Fast Overhaul of Arak Reactor

A general view of Tehran, Iran. Reuters file photo
A general view of Tehran, Iran. Reuters file photo
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Iran Nuclear Chief Wants Fast Overhaul of Arak Reactor

A general view of Tehran, Iran. Reuters file photo
A general view of Tehran, Iran. Reuters file photo

The new head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has said he wants to speed up the conversion of the country's Arak heavy water reactor into a research facility.

Under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Tehran agreed to modify the Arak reactor so that it could not produce military-grade plutonium.

"This project must be reconfigured and returned to operation as soon as possible," Iranian media on Saturday quoted Mohammad Eslami as saying during a visit to the site this week.

No time frame was specified.

The nuclear deal gave Iran sanctions relief in return for tight controls on its nuclear program, monitored by the UN.

Tehran has gradually rolled back its nuclear commitments since 2019, a year after then US president Donald Trump withdrew from the multilateral deal and began reimpozing sanctions.

Iran said in 2019 that a secondary circuit for the Arak reactor had become operational as part of its redesign, but that the reactor's primary circuit, which contains the core, was still being built.

It also said that the US withdrawal from the nuclear accord had slowed the reactor's conversion.

Eslami's comments came just days after the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, visited Tehran and reached a temporary arrangement to continue surveillance of Iranian nuclear facilities.



US House Speaker Johnson Will Travel to Israel on June 22 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)
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US House Speaker Johnson Will Travel to Israel on June 22 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)

US House Speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Israel to address the parliament on June 22, he said on Wednesday.

"Our ties run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements," Johnson said in an emailed statement.

Punchbowl News, which first reported Johnson's plan, said the House Speaker was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem during the trip.

Johnson did not provide further details on the planned trip.

Johnson announced the visit as Israel presses on with its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, more than 20 months after it launched its offensive there in response to a deadly incursion into Israel led by the Palestinian group Hamas.

On Tuesday, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Norway imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel called the action "outrageous" and said the Israeli government would hold a meeting early next week to decide how to respond.