TEHRAN – The Iranian deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs has said Tehran is holding talks with Russia to sell it about 40 tons of heavy water from its nuclear program.

“We are negotiating with Russia to sell 40 tons of heavy water,” Abbas Araqchi told a televised interview late on Sunday.

Under the July 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany), Tehran is obligated to reduce its stock of heavy water.

Araqchi, who acted as a top nuclear negotiator with great powers, also confirmed that a contract has been signed to sell 32 tons of heavy water to the U.S.

Behrooz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said on Saturday that Tehran is in talks with a number of countries to sell its heavy water. However, Kamalvandi said, final decision will be subject to strategic and commercial considerations.

In January Iran removed the core of its Arak heavy water nuclear reactor and filled it with cement as required under a nuclear deal. The United States, Russia and China have agreed to participate in the redesign and the construction of a modernized reactor.

Araqchi said so far Iran has produced 200 tons of heavy water that according to the nuclear deal 130 tons of it will be kept for the Arak reactor.

NA/PA