Iran has begun building a new nuclear power plant in the southwest of the country, state TV announced, amid tensions with the US over tough sanctions imposed after Washington withdrew from the Islamic Republic’s nuclear deal with world powers.
has been rocked by anti-government protests across the country that began after the death of a young woman in police custody and challenged the country’s government. billion ($2.9 billion), the country’s television and radio station reported.
The facility will be located in Iran’s oil-rich province of Khuzestan, near the western border with Iraq. The opening ceremony of the construction site was attended by Mohammed Eslami, the head of the Iranian Civil Atomic Energy Organization, who first presented the plans for the construction of Karoon. April.
Iran has one nuclear power plant in its southern port of Bushehr that went online in 2011 with help from Russia, but it has also discovered several underground nuclear sites. The announcement of the Karoon construction came less than two weeks after Iran said it had begun producing uranium. rich. At 60 percent clean at the Fordo underground nuclear facility, the move is considered an important addition to the country’s nuclear program.
Non-proliferation experts have warned in recent months that Iran now has enough 60 percent enriched uranium to reprocess the fuel for one nuclear bomb. the Iran nuclear deal. Recent efforts to renew the 2015 Iran deal, which eased sanctions on Iran to curb its nuclear program, have stalled.
years of turmoil after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Protests erupted when Mahsa Amini, 22, died in custody on September 16, three days after she was arrested by Iran’s morality police for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women. The Iranian government insists that Amini was not tortured, but his family says his body showed bruises and other signs of beatings after his detention.
