The Obama administration is moving to finalize an $8.6 million deal with Iran to buy a supply of heavy water used in the country’s nuclear program.
“We are still in the process of executing that first transaction,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Wednesday at a policy forum hosted by Politico in Washington.
Moniz strived to make clear that the heavy water purchase would be a one-time deal and not something that will become part of normalized trade with Iran.
“We would facilitate a first purchase, and a first purchase only,” he said, explaining the terms laid out in the nuclear deal the Obama administration hashed out with the Islamic Republic last year. Moniz was a key player in reaching the deal.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced an amendment to a $37.5 billion energy spending bill that would have banned any future purchases of Iran’s heavy water. The amendment was voted down last week in an effort to move the spending bill, which funds many of the Energy Department’s programs.
The GOP has long opposed the deal with Iran, which relaxes sanctions on the country in exchange for it relinquishing its nuclear weapons programs.
Moniz said the reason the U.S. is buying the heavy water is because of restrictions on nuclear materials under the deal. By taking the heavy water from Iran and, consequently, making use of it in the U.S., it acts to dismantle the country’s nuclear infrastructure, he said.
Moniz said the purchase is done “in the spirit” of all nations under the deal to comply with it and move Iran from nuclear weapons.
“It’s about taking the existential threat off the table, ” Moniz said.
