Iran Says It Is Building a Nuclear-Powered Submarine An Iranian naval commander said Tuesday that Iran had begun work on its first nuclear-powered submarine. "We have taken the first steps in the direction of building nuclear-powered submarines," Deputy Navy Cmdr. Abbas Zamini said, according to the Fars news agency. Some analysts fear Iran could use the submarine project to justify enriching uranium to higher levels. Mark Hibbs, a nuclear proliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was cited by Reuters as saying that many nuclear-powered submarines use uranium fuel enriched to levels that could also be suitable for atomic bombs. Iran is scheduled to meet next week with international negotiators over its nuclear program.