With less than a week to go before Iran delivers its formal answer to the West's offer of a peace deal over its nuclear programme, it is tempting to think that the diplomatic net is finally closing on Tehran. That is certainly the impression given by the suggestion that Russian President Dmitri Medvedev is prepared to support a further round of sanctions, which would most likely target Iran's oil and gas industries.
As one of the country's main trading partners, the Russians, given their geographical proximity to the Iranian border, have the ability to undermine the West's attempts to pressurise Tehran. In fact, they have done so repeatedly since the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions surfaced six years ago: they sold Iran sophisticated military equipment to protect it against any possible attack from the West – such as the S-300 anti-missile system – and also helped build the controversial Bushehr nuclear reactor in the Gulf.
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