Russia's Perplexing Iranian Strategy

Russian officials remain largely mum on what that proposal is, though Iranian officials have suggested that it might be a suspension of sanctions in return for a suspension of uranium enrichment. Putin is known to be miffed that Tehran so casually rejected his earlier proposal to have the Iranians conduct their fuel enrichment work inside Russia, an idea U.S. officials have noted with favor.

To add a bit more intrigue, a few days after seeing Putin at a hastily arranged meeting in Moscow, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert fueled the speculation that the Russian leader is pressuring Iran. Olmert contended that Putin was willing to block the opening of a Russian-built nuclear reactor in the Iranian town of Bushehr—a key issue for the West. "I can reveal one detail of my meeting with Russian President Putin last week," Olmert allowed earlier this week. "Russia has decided not to supply nuclear fuel to Iran, in spite of all the declarations and rumors."

Just don't count on the Kremlin to confirm—or definitively clarify—just what Putin might have told his Iranian hosts.