What If Iranians, Americans and Arabs Made Uranium Together?
Iran has an unconventional idea that could make the region safer and also appeal to Trump’s love for big, bold deals.
Never mind all that — Iran has another idea.
Photographer: Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
President Donald Trump, still touring the Middle East, keeps saying how “very happy” he’d be if he could make a deal with Iran. Iran, meanwhile, needs such a deal to avoid being bombed by Israel and strangled economically by the resumption of United Nations sanctions later this year. If reports out of Tehran are correct, those pressures may have motivated Iranian leaders to come up with an unconventional idea that deserves a hearing: They want to work with their enemies, not against them, to build Iran’s nuclear program.
Their brainstorm envisions a kind of joint venture among Iranians, Saudis and Emiratis, as well as private investors including US companies. This new consortium would enrich uranium, a fissile material that can be used to generate electricity or make medical isotopes — and to build nuclear bombs. Because Iranians, Arabs, Americans and others would be working together, it would be easy to verify that this atomic program remains civilian rather than military.