Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Iran has denied the media reports on decommissioning of the country's Fordo nuclear facility.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi dismissed western media information which claimed that Iranian president Hassan Rouhani would offer to close Fordo nuclear facility if the West eases sanctions, Iranian State IRINN TV reported.

German Der Spiegel journal reported on September 16, that it has learned from intelligence sources that Iran's new president Hassan Rouhani is reportedly prepared to decommission the Fordo enrichment plant and allow international inspectors to monitor the removal of the centrifuges. In return, he could demand the United States and Europe to rescind their sanctions against Iran, lift the ban on Iranian oil exports and allow the country's central bank to do international business again.

Salehi also expressed hope that there will be a constructive progress in Iran's nuclear issue in coming months.

He said there will be breakthroughs in efforts to settle the Western dispute over Iran's nuclear energy program in the coming months.

"As I had previously announced, we are very optimistic about the process that has started to resolve the nuclear issue, and we expect that we will see the beginning of a trend in the coming months to settle the nuclear issue," Salehi said.

During his meeting with Salehi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano voiced optimism that the IAEA and Tehran would reach an agreement on the removal of the remaining ambiguities in Iran's nuclear program in the coming months.

The new round of negotiations between Iran and the IAEA will be held in Vienna on Sept. 27.

However, not all the countries are optimistic over the resolution of dispute on Iran's nuclear issue.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeated his call for the exertion of tougher international pressure on Iran over its nuclear energy program.

He said that halting Iran's nuclear energy program tops his agenda during his upcoming visit to the US in late September, Press TV reported.

Netanyahu urged the international community to throw its weight behind three demands: preventing Iran from enriching uranium, removing Iran's enriched uranium reserves, and closing the Fordo nuclear facility in central Iran.

He argued that all diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving Tehran's nuclear issue must be accompanied by a "credible military threat."

The West suspects Tehran's nuclear program may be aimed at developing nuclear weapons capability, but Iran insists it is purely for peaceful purposes.

Iran reiterates that its main demand is that its right to uranium enrichment, as stipulated in the NPT, be recognized.