WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signaled on Friday that the United States will allow talks with Iran over its nuclear program to play out before considering fresh sanctions against Tehran.
Iran on Thursday proposed changes to a U.N.-drafted nuclear fuel deal, making demands that seemed to challenge the basis of the agreement with the United States, France and Russia.
Asked during a CNN interview whether it was time to stop talking with Iran and move toward sanctions, Clinton said: "We are working with the IAEA (the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency), with France, Russia ... who are all united and showing resolve in responding to the Iranian response and seeking clarification. So I'm going to let this process play out."
Clinton did not say under what conditions the United States would consider fresh sanctions against Iran.
The Iranian pro-government daily Javan said on Thursday that Iran wanted shipments of low-enriched uranium -- for conversion abroad into fuel for a Tehran research reactor -- to take place in stages, not in a single consignment. It also wanted simultaneous imports of higher-enriched fuel from other countries for the same plant.
(Reporting by Will Dunham)
