Stop the presses! SecDef says U.S., Iran are not close to nuke accord!

This one's a real jaw-dropper. Who would have thought, after Iran has responded with such warmth to Obama's overtures, that the two great powers would not be close to an accord?

"Gates Says U.S., Iran Aren't Close to Nuclear Accord," by Viola Gienger and Steve Bryant for Bloomberg, February 6:

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he doesn't regard Iran as close to an accord with international powers on the handling of uranium.

"I don't have the sense that we are close to an agreement," Gates said today in Turkey's capital Ankara. He discussed Iran with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in Munich yesterday that Iran is "approaching a final agreement" on having nuclear fuel produced outside the Islamic Republic. The country is "serious," he said. Mottaki also today said he had talks on a possible deal with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano at the Munich Security Conference.

The U.S., the other four permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany are working to persuade Iran to give up enrichment of uranium, which could be used to produce fuel or make a bomb. The group, which also includes China, France, Russia, and the U.K., offered a proposal that would allow Iran to swap uranium in return for enriched fuel for a medical reactor.

Iran's response has been "quite disappointing," Gates said. The country continues to resist the IAEA and the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, he said.

Nothing Done

"They have done nothing to reassure the international community that they are prepared to comply with the NPT or stop their progress toward a nuclear weapon," Gates said. "I think that various nations need to think about whether the time has come for a different tack."...

No kidding, really? It is for this incisive analysis that Gates has earned his prominent position.