Iran: Serious on Nukes or Just Playing for Time?

After Tehran agreed to send most of its openly declared enriched uranium outside Iran to be turned into fuel, Obama administration officials were clearly walking a fine line on Thursday between celebrating what could be a possible breakthrough in international efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions and sounding appropriately skeptical that the administration was not going to be played.

"Taking the step of transferring its low-enriched uranium to a third country would be a step towards building confidence that Iran's program is in fact peaceful," Mr. Obama said Thursday. But, perhaps aware of the country's history of appearing to make concessions and then backing off, he quickly added: "We're not interested in talking for the sake of talking. If Iran does not take steps in the near future to live up to its obligations, then the United States will not continue to negotiate indefinitely, and we are prepared to move towards increased pressure."

It was, in many ways, the exact opposite of what a White House usually does after major international talks. Instead of painting lukewarm concessions as major breakthroughs and going on and on about "warm substantive" meetings, officials were treating a potentially major breakthrough as if it were a suspicious package.

U.S. Wonders if Iran is Playing for Time or Is Serious on Deal [New York Times]