Monday, February 27 2006 11:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The Bush administration has avoided commenting on reports of an understanding between Iran and Russia on uranium enrichment and said it was awaiting details on the reported accord.

Senior officials have said little on the accord other than saying that Washington is waiting for "details".

When asked about the issue during a talk show yesterday, President's National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said it was too soon to comment on media reports.

"It's too soon to say. We'll have to see. The Russian energy minister announced an agreement in principle, but said negotiations would continue in Moscow. In any of these arrangements, the devil is in the details. We'll just have to see what emerges," Hadley said.

In all the talk about negotiations between Iran and Russia that have been endorsed by the Bush administration, several have taken the position that Tehran is possibly stringing it out keeping the March 6 deadline of reporting to the UN Security Council.

Officials feel that talk of a deal is a strategy on the part of Tehran to soften the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the Security Council - a report that could make the US and the Europeans push for economic and other sanctions against Iran.

On her way back from the Middle East, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remarked that the onus right now was on Iran and that a response is due from Tehran not from the international community.

Rice said the objective right now was to take matters one step at a time with March 6 being an important date.