David E. Sanger and Michael R. Gordon at the New York Times report that:
With a negotiating deadline just two days away, Iranian officials on Sunday backed away from a critical element of a proposed nuclear agreement, saying they are no longer willing to ship their atomic fuel out of the country.
This is a sudden and, presumably, unexpected development since:
For months, Iran tentatively agreed that it would send a large portion of its stockpile of uranium to Russia, where it would not be accessible for use in any future weapons program. But on Sunday Iran’s deputy foreign minister made a surprise comment to Iranian reporters, ruling out an agreement that involved giving up a stockpile that Iran has spent years and billions of dollars to amass.
This could, or could not, be a major setback. But if the Iranians get their way on this, then it surely will not make the deal any more palatable to its critics to include the 71% of Americans who, according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll:
… said the negotiations between Tehran and the Obama administration and other world powers will not make a real difference in preventing Iran from producing nuclear weapons …
