Tehran

The headlines from last month's Iranian nuclear talks in Istanbul could not have been more misleading: "Iran is ready to resolve nuclear issues. " The accumulation of historical fact in this long crisis proves just the opposite: The Iranian regime is bent on acquiring a nuclear weapon, and will take full advantage of diplomacy toward this end if allowed to do so, including this week's talks in Baghdad. Indeed, the Iranian strategy of exploiting diplomacy to further advance the nuclear program is a matter of regime policy.

Despite some remaining differences, a deal has been reached with Iran that will allow the U.N. nuclear agency to restart a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Tehran has secretly worked on developing nuclear arms, the U.N. nuclear chief said Tuesday. The news from International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano, who returned from Tehran on Tuesday, comes just a day before Iran and six world powers meet in Baghdad for negotiations and could present a significant turning point in the heated dispute over Iran's nuclear intentions.

FORTUNATELY, SOCIAL networking sites are causing leaders in Middle Eastern countries some sleepless nights. And if ever an authoritarian regime wanted to look ridiculous, it should follow Iran, whose humorless fundamentalist leaders carried out reprisals against Iranian young people who this summer started a Facebook page for "Water Wars in Tehran. " That page attracted 24,500 members with 22 local chapters in cities across the country. Calling on young men and young women to get out their squirt guns and gather for "water wars" at nearby swim parks, the social networking sites clearly riled up the powers that...

The head of the U.N. nuclear agency flew to Tehran on Sunday on a delicate mission that — if successful — could finally lift the veil on whether Iran is seeking atomic arms while strengthening the Islamic Republic's negotiating hand in crucial nuclear talks with six world powers later in the week. The trip by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano is focused on getting agreement from Iran to terms that will allow the agency to resume probing whether Tehran secretly worked on nuclear arms.

TEHRAN -- Iran announced plans yesterday for a conference to examine evidence for the Holocaust, a new step in hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign against Israel -- one that could deepen Tehran's international isolation. Ahmadinejad already has called the Nazis' World War II slaughter of European Jews a "myth" and has said the Jewish state should be wiped off the map or moved to Germany or the United States. Those remarks prompted a global outpouring of condemnation, and it wasn't clear who would be willing to attend an Iranian-sponsored Holocaust conference.

The Iranian reformist website Kaleme.com says Iranian filmmaker and women’s right activist Mahnaz Mohammadi has been arrested in Tehran. She was taken into custody at her house by security agents on Sunday, according to the website, which is linked to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mohammadi directed the film “Women Without Shadow,’’ and she contributed to a documentary by filmmaker Rakhsan Bani-Etemad about Iran’s disputed presidential election in 2009. Mohammadi’s passport was confiscated to keep her from attending the Cannes...

BRUSSELS - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton swiped hard at Iran yesterday, accusing its hard-line leaders of fomenting divisions in the Arab world, promoting terrorism, posing threats to Israel and Europe, and seeking to "intimidate as far as they think their voice can reach. " Her remarks, at the conclusion of two days of talks in Egypt, Israel, and the West Bank, were notable for coming from an Obama administration that has raised the prospect of diplomatic engagement with Iran as part of a new direction in US foreign policy.

The U.N. nuclear agency chief will fly to Tehran over the weekend to sign a deal meant to allow his organization to resume a long- stalled search for evidence that Iran worked on developing nuclear arms, the agency and diplomats said Friday. The trip Sunday by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano comes just four days ahead of a key meeting between six world powers and Iran where the six hope to wrest concessions from Tehran meant to reduce concerns that it wants such arms.

TEHRAN — Iran yesterday hanged an Iranian convicted of spying for the country’s archenemy, Israel, the official IRNA news agency reported. Ali Akbar Siadat had been accused of providing Israel with classified information on Iran’s military capabilities, including details about military maneuvers, bases, operational jet fighters, military flights, air crashes, and missiles, IRNA reported. Separately, another Iranian was hanged yesterday for membership in an exile opposition movement, IRNA reported.

Iran TEHRAN - Iran said yesterday that it has evidence that the United States was behind the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran, state media reported. Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was killed in a daylight assassination Wednesday when two assailants on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to his car. The IRNA state news agency said that Iran's Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic letter to the United States saying that it has "evidence and reliable information" that the CIA provided "guidance, support and planning" to assassins "directly involved"...

TEHRAN — Iran says it will sue Google over dropping the name of the Persian Gulf on Google Maps. The threat comes after the famous online search engine left the body of water between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula nameless on its online map service. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that if Google does not restore the name of the Persian Gulf, it will face ‘‘serious damages. " Mehmanparast told the semiofficial Mehr news agency Thursday that Tehran has already warned Google of possible legal ­action.

JERUSALEM - The United States has plans in place to attack Iran if necessary to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, Washington's envoy to Israel said, days ahead of a crucial round of nuclear talks with Tehran. Dan Shapiro's message resonated Thursday far beyond the closed forum in which it was made: Iran should not test Washington's resolve to act on its promise to strike if diplomacy and sanctions fail to pressure Tehran to abandon its disputed nuclear program. Shapiro told the Israel Bar Association that the United States hopes it will not have to resort to military force.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday he is skeptical that Iran will agree to halt its nuclear program, accusing Tehran of playing a "chess game" with the international community. Just days ahead of a crucial round of nuclear talks with Tehran, Netanyahu said "nothing would be better than to just see this issue solved diplomatically. " "But I have to say I see no evidence whatsoever that Iran is serious about ending its nuclear program," he said. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany are gearing up for a May 23 meeting with...

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that he is eager to attend the Olympic Games in London to support Iranian athletes but that Britain doesn't want to host him. Ahmadinejad was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying he would like to be "beside Iranian athletes" during the Games but the British are reluctant to have him. "I would like to be next to our young athletes at the 2012 Olympics but the host has a problem with...

A drawing provided to The Associated Press is said to come from inside an Iranian military site and to show a structure used in secret work on nuclear arms. The image shows the type of explosives containment chamber needed for such tests that U.N. inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted at the site. Iran denies such testing and has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a chamber. The image was provided by an official of a country tracking Iran's nuclear program who said the drawing proves the structure exists despite Tehran's refusal to acknowledge it. A...

Germany's foreign minister is urging Israel and the Palestinians to "move ahead courageously" and swiftly to reopen negotiations toward achieving a two-state solution. Guido Westerwelle said in a speech alongside his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman in Berlin that only the two-state solution "can guarantee Israel's long-term security. " Westerwelle stressed in his speech late Monday that "time is pressing. " The minister also said sanctions against Iran are effective and that negotiations with Tehran on its nuclear program should be given a...

MANAMA, Bahrain -- Iran's foreign minister delivered a blunt challenge to the United States yesterday, saying Tehran is willing to help US troops withdraw from Iraq, but only if Washington makes tough policy changes. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki asserted that US troops are responsible for at least half the violence tearing apart Iraq and that their departure would pay dividends for the entire region. "If the United States changes its attitude, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to help with the withdrawal from Iraq," Mottaki told a conference here being held by the...

LONDON -- Britain believes Iran's Revolutionary Guard is supplying explosive technology that is killing British soldiers in Iraq, including eight who died in separate bombings over the summer, a senior British government official said yesterday. Tehran rejected the allegation. Britain's Press Association reported that the official said there was evidence Iran was in contact with Sunni Muslim insurgent groups battling coalition troops in Iraq. The official, addressing reporters on condition of anonymity, did not specify whether the alleged Iranian...

The Israeli government proposed Monday that national elections be moved up to Sept. 4, putting in motion a brief campaign expected to propel Benjamin Netanyahu to another term as prime minister. Parliament is to begin deliberating bills to dissolve the legislature later in the day, making the date official. A final vote is expected to be held on Tuesday. The current government is the most stable Israel has had in years. But disagreements on a variety of domestic issues such as drafting the ultra-Orthodox into the military and tearing down illegal structures in West Bank...