US offer would allow Teheran to enrich uranium in Russia

When Bush get's home Cheney's gonna whip his ass.

President George W Bush has backed a plan to allow Iran to enrich uranium in Russia. The sudden change in tactics over Teheran's controversial nuclear programme has angered hawks in Washington and surprised European diplomats.

Mr Bush, who met President Vladimir Putin at a Pacific Rim summit on Friday, told him he would support Moscow's plan to offer Iran the chance to conduct nuclear enrichment at facilities in Russia. The US was previously against any deal that would allow Iran to enrich its own uranium.

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The strategy will alarm administration hardliners - most notably the vice president, Dick Cheney, and John Bolton, a former number three at the State Department and now ambassador to the United Nations - who wielded the upper hand on foreign policy during Mr Bush's first term.

They maintain that any offer to Teheran is a sign of weakness, effectively rewarding long-standing Iranian deception over its nuclear programme and buying the clerical regime more time to develop clandestine weapons.

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