What makes this move rather worrisome is that many nuclear-powered submarines use as fuel uranium enriched to levels that could also be suitable for atomic bombs. Mark Hibbs, a nuclear proliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a diplomatic think-tank, pointed this out to Reuters, but also said “[i]f Iran moves forward on this project it would be for political reasons. Iran could easily defend itself with conventional submarine technology.”

According to Admiral Abbas Zamini, Iran’s technical deputy navy chief “[o]ur aim isn’t aggression but if someone attacks us we will defend ourselves.” Totally Zamini, I’m with you there, I just want to be sure it is with submarines, not nuclear weapons. Tehran is now refining uranium to a fissile concentration of up to 20 per cent. This is below the 90 per cent concentration needed for nuclear arms and any attempt to process to higher levels would alarm the West and Israel.

Western nations fear that, with just a few months more of processing, the 20 per cent enriched uranium stock that Iran currently hold could be enriched to the 90 per cent level used to make atomic bombs. The building of nuclear submarines will do nothing to alleviate this worry. In Iran’s parliament today, Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani said that concerning the level of uranium enrichment, “Iran can define it according to its needs and desires, but that cannot be a rule limiting Iran’s nuclear activities.”

[Source: Reuters, The Telegraph, Daily Star]