IRAN will continue the activities in the Arak heavy water reactor after its redesign, an Iranian lawmaker said yesterday.

As for the Arak reactor, “its activities will be continued after changing its technology,” Mehrdad Lahooti told semi-official ISNA news agency.

The remarks by Lahooti came after the Iranian parliamentarians’ meeting with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, yesterday.

The international work on the redesign of Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor has “picked up pace” after a pause, Salehi said Friday.

“The joint committee tasked with redesigning the Arak heavy water reactor facility ... is performing its job well,” he said.

“We are consequently satisfied with the project’s progress because the reactor’s reconstruction has picked up pace after being delayed for several months,” he added.

Under the Iranian 2015 international nuclear deal, Iran agreed to redesign its heavy water reactor.

On Saturday, an informed Iranian military source told the official IRNA news agency that Iran will test-fire missiles “if it is necessary.”

“Carrying out missile tests by Iran is based on Iran’s program and needs,” the source was quoted as saying. He said that Iran’s missile power is “quite defensive” and not against any country.

“It is merely aimed at responding to possible aggression against Iran’s territorial integrity,” the source added.

The remarks came as a reaction to a recent U.S. report that Iran test-fired a medium-range missile Wednesday.

“Iran does not need the permission of any power in the world for its self-defense,” the Iranian military source stressed.

According to the U.S. report, Iran test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile late Wednesday that traveled 1,000 kilometers from its southern launch point into northern Iran.

The missile was launched from Iran’s southeastern coastline along the Gulf of Oman and landed in northern Iran, the report said.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 Iranian international nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions against Tehran, partially, over its ballistic missile program.

(SD-Xinhua)