U235 in Iran

The uranium in Iran is in the news. Uranium comes naturally in three different types called isotopes. One is U 235 and is only .7% while another is U 238 which represents most of the remaining 99.3% and trace amounts of U 234. It is the U 235 that is valuable for bomb making and used in nuclear power plants. Starting with natural uranium, by a process called enrichment, the U 235 is concentrated but it is not a linear process. It takes just as long to go from .7 % to 20 % as it does to go from 20 % to 90 %. The uranium used in power plants is 4% but 90% is needed for bombs so the uranium in Iran is at 60% and well on the way to bomb grade. The concern is over 970 pounds of 60% uranium that Iran has but Russia has 140,000 pounds of highly enriched (90%) and could easily ship a thousand pound to Iran. Iran has often stated it is enriching uranium for power plant use but 60% is far beyond that. In addition, the West has agreed to send Iran 4% enriched for use in power production but they refused to accept. Also, North Korea could easily ship a complete bomb to Iran and many wonder why that hasn’t already happened.