Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Iran has defied the U.S. version of its nuclear agreement that lifted billions of dollars worth of international sanctions.

Officials said the Teheran regime planned to continue its nuclear program despite the controversial agreement with the P5+1. They said Iran was planning to continue uranium enrichment as well as construction of its plutonium facility.

“Capacity at the Arak site is not going to increase,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif said. “It means no new nuclear fuel will be produced and no new installations will be installed, but construction will continue there.”

In an address to parliament on Nov. 27, Zarif disputed the Western interpretation of the nuclear agreement signed in Geneva three days earlier. The foreign minister, echoing other senior officials, said Iran would maintain all areas of its nuclear program.

“From the beginning we all knew that entering into negotiations meant facing major difficulties, because in negotiations all your demands cannot be met,” Zarif, accused of agreeing to restricting uranium enrichment, told parliament. “Therefore, you will face criticism and attacks — which are happening now.”

Western diplomats said Arak marked a key target in P5+1 negotiations to
stop Iran’s program. They said the United States and its NATO allies had
demanded that construction of Arak end. President Barack Obama said the
agreement stipulated that Iran would “halt work at its plutonium reactor.”

“In the interim accord, the Arak reactor is specifically targeted and
the end of all work at this reactor,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman
Romain Nadal said. “In the agreement and the text, which has been approved
by the Iranian authorities, the Arak reactor is clearly targeted.”

But Iran said the P5+1 accord does not stipulate the suspension of Arak
construction. Instead, the agreement stated that Teheran would not make “any
further advances of its activities.”

“Work at the Arak reactor will continue,” Iranian Atomic Energy
Organization chief Ali Salehi said. “All our exploration and extraction activities
will continue, There will not be any activities that won’t continue.”

Obama, intent on a rapproachment with Teheran, has been lobbying
Congress to support the suspension of an estimated $12 billion worth of U.S.
sanctions on Iran. In a video message, Secretary of State John Kerry
stressed that the P5+1 interim deal could be reversed should Iran be deemed
non-compliant.

“In the end it’s really up to Iran to prove that its nuclear program is
peaceful,” Kerry said. “The whole world has an interest in making sure this
is a peaceful program.”

  Ali Salehi, Arak, In defiance of agreement, Iran defies U.S. spin on agreement: ‘There will not be any activities that won’t continue’, John Kerry, Mohammed Zarif, P5+1 agreement