Iran’s commercial fleet should be powered by nuclear fuel: Iran`s Majlis committee

TEHRAN,July 4(MNA) - The Majlis Industries and Mines Committee approved a plan which calls for Iranian oceangoing tankers and ships to be powered by nuclear fuel in order to eliminate their need to be refueled while on long voyages, Iranian MP Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini said on Tuesday. Naqavi-Hosseini, who is the rapporteur of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that the plan will obligate the administration to supply the ships that carry energy supplies with non-fossil fuels, including nuclear fuel. The parliament must endorse the plan before it can be implemented. Earlier, MP Rouhollah Abbaspour, the rapporteur of the Majlis Industries and Mines Committee, had said that in response to the West’s anti-Iranian sanctions, the administration would be obligated to equip some vessels of the country’s shipping fleets with enhanced propulsion systems that would allow them to operate for long periods without needing to be refueled. MP Mehrdad Bazrpash, who was the initiator of the proposal, told the Mehr News Agency on Tuesday that the implementation of the plan would eliminate the need of Iranian oceangoing ships to moor in ports of foreign countries for refueling. An informed source told the Tehran Times on Tuesday that Iran may need to produce uranium enriched to a purity level of higher than 20 percent in order to fuel the ships equipped with enhanced propulsion systems. The deputy commander of the Iranian Navy had previously announced that Iran plans to build nuclear-powered submarines. Rear Admiral Abbas Zamini said that the Iranian Navy is planning to design and manufacture nuclear-powered submarines, adding, “We are now in the early stages of the project to build nuclear submarines.”