ABSTRACT
As previously touched upon, despite Tehran’s high hopes and keen interest in securing maximum nuclear cooperation from the United States, the fallout of the Indian explosion nipped, for all practical purposes, its materialization in the bud. This was in stark contrast with the prevailing atmosphere in Western Europe where Iran made fairly smooth and long strides in securing both nuclear hardware and software accouterments. As the Shah attached infi nitely more strategic weight to nuclear partnership with the United States, though, the stalemate with Washington incrementally turned into the litmus test of the resilience and profundity of the latter’s commitment to Tehran as an indispensable regional ally.
