Iran's Nukes and Russia

In a move that is probably designed more to appease the US and Israeli publics, Putin today took a harder line on Iran's nuclear program.

Putin, at a news conference in Jerusalem, said Tehran's agreement to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia -- which agreed to supply the material to Iran's Bushehr plant -- "does not seem to be enough."

He said that in addition, the Iranians should "abandon all technology to create a full nuclear cycle and also not obstruct their nuclear sites from international control."

Since Russia is the main sponsor of Iran's nuclear program, it seems to me that this statement is pretty much meaningless. Still, maybe the US sale of 100 laser-guided "bunker buster" bombs to Israel has something to do with his greater interest in controlling Iran's nuclear ambitions.

At the same time, Iran is once again threatening that if talks with the EU-3 fail, it will restart its Uranium enrichment program. I wonder what the EU-3 will compromise on now.