Tehran, Jan 17, IRNA – US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said that after years of negotiation and months of preparation, we've reached a milestone.

'Today, we are officially implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a historic agreement to ensure that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful in nature,' Moniz added in an article published in the US Department of Energy.

US energy secretary underlined that 'Since last October, Iran has shipped 25,000 pounds of enriched uranium out of the country and has removed and placed in monitored storage two-thirds of its centrifuges and associated infrastructure. The core of Iran's Arak Heavy Water Research Reactor was removed and filled with concrete, eliminating Iran's potential source of weapons-grade plutonium.'

The official added that 'To block covert pathways, Iran has allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) unprecedented access to its nuclear facilities and supply chain. And for the first time, the IAEA will be using modern safeguards technologies in its monitoring and verification efforts in Iran.'

'As a result of these actions, earlier today, the IAEA reported that Iran has completed all of the necessary nuclear steps required to reach Implementation Day,' Moniz noted.

He said that 'To date, experts at DOE headquarters, seven national laboratories, and two DOE nuclear sites have been actively involved in reaching and now implementing the agreement. For instance, our experts helped shape the negotiations with rigorous technical analysis of the parameters of the agreement, ensuring Iran’s breakout time is at least a year. In addition, our labs support the IAEA’'s monitoring and verification activities in a number of ways, including by every IAEA inspector in nuclear materials measurement training since 1980.'

'These experts will continue to play a critical role as the Department leads the US effort to help ensure that Iran meets its key nuclear commitments,' Moniz added.

He noted that 'As a nuclear physicist at the negotiating table, and by working continuously with my Iranian counterpart right up to Implementation Day, I know it took a lot to get here. Based on hard science and analysis, the Iran nuclear agreement enhances our global security and provides verification to ensure that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful from now on.'

On Jan. 16, 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency verified that Iran has completed the necessary steps under the Iran deal that will ensure Iran's nuclear program is and remains exclusively peaceful.

Following the IAEA statement, Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini read a joint statement on implementation of the JCPOA and removal of anti-Iran sanctions on Saturday night.

Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany - finalized the text of the JCPOA in Vienna in July 2015.

Under the JCPOA, limits are put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.

By IRNA