Abstract
During the latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers, high-level discussion focused on Tehran’s “practical needs,” or how much fuel the country requires to keep its domestic nuclear energy program running. It’s a sticking point in talks. Iran’s negotiating partners—the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany, or P5+1—say that Iran receives all the fuel it requires for its program from foreign providers, and therefore doesn’t need to enrich uranium on its soil. But Iran’s government believes that relying on external supplies would make the country vulnerable, and insists that it needs to be self-sufficient—a goal that causes consternation in the West. Whether or not Tehran is accurate in its assessment, it will have to be satisfied for a deal to come off.
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