Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses a press conference about his country's nuclear issue in New York, the United States, May 4, 2010. (Xinhua File Photo/Shen Hong)

BEIJING, May 26 -- Iran's recent formal notification to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its nuclear fuel swap deal with Turkey and Brazil - a move aimed at budging from its previous tough stance - is expected to undercut the US-led international campaign for fresh sanctions against Teheran.

Due to deep concerns over Iran's nuclear program, the international community has pushed for several rounds of Teheran-targeted United Nations Security Council resolutions, urging the Islamic nation to put a moratorium on its uranium enrichment.

Iran, however, has failed to take steps to defuse international concerns. On the contrary, it has continued with its enrichment activity, which it says are completely for civilian purposes.

Iran has even tried to enrich uranium to 20-percent purity, a level that is close to weapons-grade.

In a move to escalate pressure on Iran, the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany (P5 + 1) achieved consensus last week on fresh sanctions against Teheran, calling for international blockage of heavy arms sales to the Islamic country and urging it to guarantee that it would not develop fresh uranium enrichment capability.