Does Ukrainian Crisis Give Iran Breathing Room?

The Obama Administration strategy for containing Iran’s nuclear program rests on cooperation from Russia, but that cooperation will be sorely tested as the crisis in Ukraine escalates.

While State Department spokesman Jennifer Psaki says that she expects Russia to “remain an active partner” in upcoming talks in Vienna on the subject, it seems wishful thinking given the state of U.S.-Russian relations.

Former nuclear weapons negotiator Gary Samore (now at Harvard’s Belfer Center) says that these tensions will help Tehran feel “under much less pressure to make concessions.”

Complicating the talks is the fact that Iran’s nuclear facilities at Bushehr were built by the Russian State Nuclear Agency (Rosatom).