The Russian company said it was deferring the conversion of Fordow into a radioactive isotope production facility for medical purposes, as Iran resumed enriching uranium.

"It is not possible to simultaneously enrich uranium and produce stable isotopes because there will be an amount of uranium that is not compatible with medical isotopes," according to TVEL's December 5 statement. subsidiary of Russian nuclear energy group Rosatom.

Iran announced it began pumping uranium into 1,044 centrifuges at the Fordow nuclear facility on November 6, marking the fourth step to reduce its commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action 2015 (JCPOA). Under a 2015 agreement, Iran agreed to convert Fordow into a nuclear, physical, and technological center for civilian use instead of enriching uranium.

TVEL said it had to "dismantle equipment used for uranium enrichment and decontamination facilities" to continue the project, and also informed Iran of the situation. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said Russia and Iran are discussing ways to solve technical problems arising at Fordow.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Russia did not end but only postponed the project to change the purpose of the Fordow nuclear facility. "We need time to consider the options in this situation and the potential negative consequences after the US removes Fordow from the sanctions exemptions list from December 15," Ryabkov said.

Russia has been cooperating with Iran since 2017 to convert Fordow into a nuclear facility to produce tellurium and xenon radioisotopes for medical purposes, under the JCPOA agreement.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced his unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA in 2018, then imposed a series of sanctions on Iran and increased military presence in the Persian Gulf to pressure the Middle East nation to negotiate a new agreement. . However, Iran did not give in to US pressure and gradually withdrew from the nuclear deal in response.