The difficulty facing Washington in mustering support for ratcheting up pressure on Iran was already clear in Thursday's statement by a Russian foreign ministry official that, as far as we know, there has been no final official answer from Tehran, and there is currently no discussion on working out additional sanctions against Iran. Friday's Brussels meeting simply reaffirmed disappointment in Iran's failure to embrace the deal thus far, but reiterated the commitment of the Western powers, Russia and China to continue to engage in dialogue with Tehran. A deal under which Iran would export the bulk of its stock of enriched uranium to Russia for conversion into reactor fuel.
Iran hasn't formally responded, but for the Western powers, that's the whole point - the proposed deal was negotiated weeks ago with Iranian representatives in Vienna, and Iran's government was asked to endorse it within a couple of days. But the plan faced a firestorm of criticism from across the political spectrum in Tehran, prompting the government of Iran to back track. Many Iranian leaders suspect the deal is part of a plan to deprive it of the right to enrich uranium on its own soil.
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