Iran said on Monday it could endorse a U.N. deal for it to send potential nuclear fuel abroad for processing, the first official indication that Tehran could respond positively to the outline agreement. The remark by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was the most positive yet from a senior Iranian official and hinted at a shift in backroom debate between hardliners and moderates in the faction-ridden Iranian leadership on whether to accept the deal. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said it was urgent for world powers to make a lasting deal with Tehran to avert an Israeli strike over its disputed nuclear program.
The remark by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was the most positive yet from a senior Iranian official and hinted at a shift in backroom debate between hardliners and moderates in the faction-ridden Iranian leadership on whether to accept the deal.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said it was urgent for world powers to make a lasting deal with Tehran to avert an Israeli strike over its disputed nuclear program.
Just before international inspectors on Sunday were guided for the first time into an Iranian nuclear enrichment plant whose existence was a state secret until recently, the speaker of Iran's Parliament warned his countrymen to beware of American efforts to "cheat" Iran out of the nuclear fuel that has become the country's currency in reasserting its power. In Washington, the concern is precisely the reverse. Here, even some of President Obama's aides are wary that Iran is setting a trap, trying to turn the administration's signature offer of engagement into a process of endless negotiations. They are acutely aware of the fact that the clock is ticking: While talks continue, Iran is steadily enriching more uranium, the fuel it would need if it ever decided to sprint for the bomb, much as Israel and India did 30 years ago, followed by Pakistan and North Korea. That struggle -- pitting Iran's fears of falling for a Western conspiracy to neutralize its "strategic reserve" against the West's fears of being lured into an Iranian plot to buy time for a secret nuclear bomb program -- lies at the heart of the complex set of moves and countermoves now being played out around the globe.
In Washington, the concern is precisely the reverse. Here, even some of President Obama's aides are wary that Iran is setting a trap, trying to turn the administration's signature offer of engagement into a process of endless negotiations. They are acutely aware of the fact that the clock is ticking: While talks continue, Iran is steadily enriching more uranium, the fuel it would need if it ever decided to sprint for the bomb, much as Israel and India did 30 years ago, followed by Pakistan and North Korea.
That struggle -- pitting Iran's fears of falling for a Western conspiracy to neutralize its "strategic reserve" against the West's fears of being lured into an Iranian plot to buy time for a secret nuclear bomb program -- lies at the heart of the complex set of moves and countermoves now being played out around the globe.
