Responding to American concerns, Russia has expelled an Iranian diplomat who was trying to purchase missile technology. It has also suspended a contract between a Russian rocket engine manufacturer and Iran. But there have been allegations that Iranian missile scientists are still being trained by the Baltic State Technical University in St. Petersburg. And while Yeltsin ordered the tightening of export controls, the Russian bureaucracy has not always effectively carried out his orders. Russia's recently disclosed plans to increase the number of nuclear reactors it plans to sell to Iran has also clouded the picture.
Russian officials insist, however, that they are cracking down.
In the cases where we saw some doubtful aspects, these contacts were severed. Both sides have been careful not to link the question of raising the space launch quota publicly with the Iran issue, though privately officials on both sides acknowledge the questions are bound together. The Clinton administration, for its part, appears to be concerned with avoiding the impression that it is rewarding the Russians for good behavior. Several senior Clinton administration officials said that Washington had quietly made clear its readiness to ease the space launch restrictions once American conditions on Iran were met, but none would say so on the record.