In the mean time the State Department rejected Iran's latest proposal for international talks, saying it is "not really responsive to our greatest concern, which is obviously Iran's nuclear program".
President Obama's offer of direct diplomacy evidently has produced no change in the stance taken by Iran during the George W. Bush administration, when Tehran proposed discussing everything from stability in the Balkans to the development of Latin America with the United States and its allies -- but refused to consider even a temporary shutdown of its centrifuges.
(...) There's no reason to publicly rule out talks. But the administration has said all along that it would seek tough sanctions against Iran unless it responded meaningfully to an offer of dialogue. The time has come for it to show whether it can deliver on that promise.
While this deadlock should pave the way for "crippling sanctions", Russia has broken ranks sharply with Washington, warning that it will not support the US call for tougher sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov disagreed with the U.S. assessment, contending there was “something there to use” in the proposal Tehran sent to the U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.
Accordingly sanctions now look increasingly unlikely, reports Reuters:
World powers meeting at the U.N. General Assembly and the G-20 gathering later this month are unlikely to push immediately for tougher sanctions on Iran, an official familiar with preparations for the meetings said on Thursday.
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