When Russia announced it had started shipping low-enriched uranium fuel to power the civilian nuclear reactor it is helping Iran build at Bushehr, George Bush tried to squeeze some comfort out of a piece of news which—for the international effort to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions-was a disappointing about-turn. "If the Iranians accept that [Russian] uranium for a civilian power plant, then there's no need for them to learn how to enrich," he said on December 17th. True, in theory. But Iran refuses to follow such logic. By making long-delayed fuel shipments to Bushehr now, Russia will weaken further the un Security Council effort to end Iran's defiance. It also risks undermining plans to limit the spread of dangerous nuclear technologies at a time when many governments, including a number in the volatile Middle East, plan to invest in nuclear power.
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