Neck of the woods
“Iran needs 50-60% enriched uranium to power commercial ships: MP TEHRAN, July 20 (MNA) — MP Abolqassem Jarareh has said that Iran needs highly enriched uranium in order to fuel the ships that it plans to equip with nuclear propulsion systems. “This fuel should certainly be (purified to a level) higher than 25 percent, something about 50 to 60 percent,” Jarareh, who is a member of the Majlis Industries and Mines Committee, said in an interview with the Persian service of the Fars News Agency published on Friday. The Majlis Industries and Mines Committee recently approved a plan which calls for Iranian oceangoing tankers and other commercial ships to be powered by nuclear fuel in order to eliminate their need to be refueled while on long voyages. The parliament must endorse the plan before it can be implemented………..”


This chap seems to be upping the ante, but only at first glance. There is some method to his ‘seeming’ madness. The West, as ordered by the Likud government in Israel, prefers no enrichment beyond 3% (concentration of uranium-235), while the Iranians are near 20%. Now this MP, out of the blue, has introduced 50-60% as another possible demand. That is much closer to weapons-grade uranium. But that is probably his own opinion, or possibly some bargaining chip as he sees it, or a political statement. But it underlies a more legitimate issue: nuclear-powered ships do need higher grade enriched uranium, a legitimate need, and that should present the West with yet another dilemma. A couple more of such proposals and Bibi Netanyahu will go completely bald, unless he gets to have his war that he wants the West to wage.
Cheers
mhg
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