TEHRAN — Iran has taken “initial steps” to design its first nuclear-powered submarine, a deputy navy commander claimed in an interview with the Fars news agency published Tuesday.

“Initial steps to design and build nuclear submarine propulsion systems have begun,” Admiral Abbas Zamini, the technical deputy navy chief, told the agency.

“All countries have the right to use peaceful nuclear technology, including for the propulsion system of its vessels,” he said.
Iran’s navy “needs the (nuclear-powered) propulsion system to succeed in realizing very long-distance operations.”

He did not provide further details.
Iran regularly boasts about advances in military and scientific fields, but in most cases fails to provide proof they were ever carried out. Western military experts regularly cast doubt on its claims.

Just a handful of nations — the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China — have the technology to make their own nuclear-powered submarines. India has a model under development.

The navy official’s announcement comes as the P5+1 group of world powers are preparing for a new round of crunch talks with Iran in Moscow on June 18 and 19 over Tehran’s disputed nuclear activities.

Iran is pushing forward with an ambitious nuclear program despite UN Security Council resolutions demanding a halt to uranium enrichment.
Meanwhile, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator has confirmed an agreement had been struck with the EU official representing world powers negotiating with Tehran on the content of upcoming talks in Moscow.

Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had a telephone conversation late Monday, Jalili’s office said in a statement reported by Iranian state media.

According to the statement, the talks in Moscow will focus on points made by Iran and by the P5+1 group in a previous round in Baghdad late last month.

Jalili told Ashton he “will explicitly talk about Iran’s five-point proposals” in Moscow and that “an appropriate response by the P5+1 to the (Iranian) proposals can help advance the talks.”

The Moscow round follows two earlier unproductive meetings since early April, in Istanbul and in Baghdad which failed to yield results in efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear activities. — Agencies