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Clinton drew a direct link between her announcement and Iran's attempt this week to head off additional sanctions by agreeing to a diluted version of an earlier U.S.-initiated proposal to enrich some uranium to medical research levels in exchange for transparency. Under the agreement, Iran would export half its low-enriched uranium to Turkey and Brazil for enrichment to medical research levels.

The Obama administration has rejected the deal as inadequate. U.S. officials noted that under the original U.S. proposal, Iran would have had to relinquish its entire existing store of uranium and make its program more transparent. Under the Brazil-Turkey deal, Iran would retain enough low-enriched uranium to manufacture a single nuclear bomb should it obtain the means to further enrich it.

AIPAC called the deal a "stalling tactic."

"The Iran-Brazil-Turkey deal fails all counts," AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said. "It leaves them with enough material to make a bomb, Iran has said it plans to continue enriching nuclear fuel and there is no indication that Iran is even willing to talk about suspending enrichment as called for by four U.N. Security Council resolutions."