Iran

Sahimi on Iran: On the first day of negotiations Iran made a symbolic, yet significant, concession. It agreed to transfer three quarters of its low-enriched uranium (LEU), about 1200 kg, to Russia to be enriched to 19.5 percent (Iran’s LEU is at the 3.8 percent level) and then to France to be converted to fuel rods. Tehran needs the fuel for its 5 MW nuclear research reactor, now operating at 3 MW due to lack of fuel; it will completely run out of fuel in 18 months after all of its Argentine-supplied fuel is spent. Note that once enriched uranium is converted to fuel rods, it can never be used for weaponization.