Unnamed “Western diplomats” stand dumbly on the train tracks, watching the Iranian nuclear locomotive rushing toward them, and say, “You’re violating the spirit of our agreement!”

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran’s decision to keep preparing raw uranium for enrichment, a step on the way to making nuclear weapons, breaks the spirit though not the letter of its pledge to freeze all such activity, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Under a deal Iran reached with three EU nations to freeze all enrichment activity as of Nov. 22, preparing “yellowcake” uranium for enrichment is strictly prohibited. But the accord allowed Iran to finish some limited uranium conversion work that it had already begun before the suspension took effect.

But Iran will now continue enrichment-related work until February, Western diplomats told Reuters.

Continuing the work that long “would certainly violate the spirit of the agreement,” a Western diplomat said. “Iran has a legal basis for doing it, but it will not inspire much confidence in them,” another diplomat said.

Aaarrrggghhhh.