Putin's vow would tie Iran's nuclear fuel to inspections

Russia has promised the Bush administration that it will not provide the nuclear fuel Iran needs to activate a new power plant unless Iran allows inspections to assure that the fuel is not used for weapons, a senior State Department official said Tuesday. The official, who asked not to be named, said the pledge was first conveyed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Secretary of State Colin Powell in Moscow last month. It was repeated when Putin met President Bush and other world leaders at a summit this week in France. The Russian pledge would be a victory for the Bush administration's campaign to make it harder for Iran to become a nuclear power. "It's a move in the right direction," says Michael Eisenstadt, a Middle East expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It will slow down this particular route" to weapons. Iran is one of 188 nations that signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It has denied any intention to make bombs. Even so, some experts predict the country could produce weapons in as little as two years.