Iran dismantles reactor core at Arak facility - report

Iran dismantled the core of the heavy water reactor at its Arak nuclear facility on Monday and encased the reactor in concrete, according to Fars news agency.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation.

The Arak facility in central Iran was one of the greatest sticking points in the nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the international community.

Bringing the reactor into service would have produced plutonium which could have been used to build an atomic bomb, prompting the international community to demand that it be converted to a more modern - and in their view safer - light water reactor.

An agreement on Arak was a deciding factor in the final report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ultimately leading to the nuclear deal on July 14 2015, and the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran.