Iran ready to share nuclear expertise with Turkiye: nuclear chief

TEHRAN - Iran's nuclear chief said on Monday that his country is ready to share nuclear power plant construction and maintenance experience with Turkiye, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Mohammad Eslami, the president of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), made the remarks in a meeting with Turkish Ambassador to Iran Hicabi Kırlangıç in the capital of Tehran.

Eslami expressed Iran's readiness to cooperate with Turkiye by offering nuclear training and exporting radiopharmaceuticals to the country, adding that the subsidiary companies of AEOI can impart expertise in production and maintenance work in nuclear power plants to Turkiye.

Referring to the West's efforts to constrain Iran's nuclear program, Eslami stressed that Iran pursues its "peaceful" nuclear activities within the framework of international regulations.

The Turkish ambassador, for his part, said his country supports all countries' right to use peaceful nuclear energy, including that of Iran.

Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on the country. The United States, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its nuclear commitments under the deal.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Austria's capital Vienna. Despite several rounds of talks, no significant breakthrough has been achieved since the end of the last round in August 2022.