Worry about Iranian arms flights reveals U.S-Iraq differences over Syria
A diplomatic dispute over whether Iran is using Iraqi airspace to ship arms to the besieged regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has highlighted differences between the Iraqi and American governments over what should happen in Syria. | 03/19/12 19:44:28 By - Sahar Issa
Israelis express relief at lack of news from Washington meetings
Speeches given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama that focused almost exclusively on Iran and its nuclear program broke little new ground in Washington this week. For some Israelis, that was a relief. | 03/07/12 18:53:39 By - Sheera Frenkel
Obama defends Iran policy, charges Republican rivals of politicizing issue
President Barack Obama ripped his Republican presidential rivals Tuesday in his first election-year press conference, accusing them of politicizing worries over Iran's nuclear aspirations and "beating the drums of war." | 03/06/12 18:41:42 By - Lesley Clark
U.S., EU, Russia and China agree to resume nuclear talks with Iran
The United States, the European Union, China and Russia have agreed to resume long-stalled negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program, the European Union said on Tuesday. | 03/06/12 10:24:37 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Obama says military force is option to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons
President Barack Obama insisted Sunday he'd call for military action to prevent Iran from securing a nuclear weapon, even as he urged Israel and its supporters to refrain from "loose talk of war" and allow diplomacy and "crippling sanctions" to work. | 03/04/12 16:02:53 By - Lesley Clark
Iran's newest nuclear advances could stoke tensions
Nuclear advances trumpeted Wednesday by Iran were not unexpected and their announcement may have been driven by domestic Iranian politics, but they still could add to tensions over that country's nuclear program, U.S. officials and experts said. | 02/15/12 19:48:11 By - Jonathan S. Landay
After killings of Iran nuclear scientists, Israeli diplomats targeted
Israeli officials blamed Iran on Monday for nearly simultaneous attempts to bomb Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia in what some analysts suggested may be Iranian retaliation for a series of attacks on its nuclear program that have been widely blamed on Israel. | 02/13/12 17:42:25 By - Sheera Frenkel
U.S. imposes new sanctions on Iran, turning up the heat
The Obama administration announced tough new targeted sanctions Monday against the Central Bank of Iran, ratcheting up economic pain on Tehran in a move intended to drive it into new international negotiations over its nuclear program, but one that could prove a trigger point for conflict. | 02/06/12 19:03:04 By - Kevin G. Hall
Iranian leader dismisses sanctions, warns U.S. against war
Dismissing economic sanctions that are beginning to bite, Iran's supreme leader said Friday that his country wouldn't bow to Western demands that it stop enriching uranium and warned that a war over its nuclear program would be "10 times more harmful" to the United States. | 02/03/12 19:31:50 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Europe, U.S. impose new Iran sanctions but repeat offer for talks
Even as they tightened the financial screws on Iran with new sanctions on Monday, the United States and its European allies reiterated their readiness to resume talks with Tehran on curbing what they suspect is a secret nuclear weapons development program. | 01/23/12 19:30:16 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Fate of U.S. effort to isolate Iran could rest with China
Most days, the announcement of an $8.5 billion joint venture oil deal between Saudi Arabia and China wouldn't raise eyebrows. Riyadh, after all, is China's largest supplier of oil. But with the United States pushing for an oil embargo against Iran, China's third-largest oil provider, the calculus has changed. | 01/16/12 18:55:30 By - Tom Lasseter and Kevin G. Hall
Pakistan speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying U.S.
With a decision to fast-track the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Iran, Pakistan is underscoring not only the energy needs of its flailing economy but also its growing estrangement from Washington. | 01/10/12 17:32:12 By - Tom Hussain
A Europe boycott of Iran oil would cap years of U.S. effort
The European Union appears on the verge of banning its member countries from buying Iranian oil, a move that would culminate a years-long behind-the-scenes campaign by two U.S. administrations to cripple that oil-rich nation's lifeblood industry. | 01/05/12 19:10:00 By - Kevin G. Hall
Iranian oil threat is mostly bluster, say observers
Amid an escalating war of words between the United States and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. and European officials expressed confidence that there was no imminent threat to the passageway through which some 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil travels daily. | 12/28/11 17:55:45 By - Nancy A. Youssef and Jonathan S. Landay
Iran explosions prompt speculation of secret attacks
A series of mishaps at Iranian nuclear facilities and weapons sites may be part of a covert organized attack on Iran's nuclear weapons program, according to Western intelligence officials. | 12/05/11 15:22:09 By - Sheera Frenkel
Britain evacuates its diplomats from Iran; Norway shuts embassy
One day after the sacking of its embassy in Tehran by pro-regime Iranian militants, Britain on Wednesday evacuated all its diplomats from Iran, closed its embassy, and ordered the expulsion of all Iranian diplomats from London within 48 hours. | 11/30/11 17:13:27 By - Scott Peterson
Israelis anxious over expected report on Iran nuclear program
Over the last week, Israelis have been stocking up on water, laying in canned goods and other supplies and in general preparing for a conflict that many worry may not be far off. Others have taken even more dramatic steps, renewing or securing non-Israeli passports that would allow them to flee the country for elsewhere in the event of a conflict. | 11/07/11 18:04:06 By - Sheera Frenkel
Mexico seen as unlikely launching pad for Iranian plot
The alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States has cast Mexico into the news as a potential staging area for a terrorist operation. But experts say the likelihood of such a plot going undetected in Mexico by U.S. authorities is low and that Mexico's drug cartels would be unlikely to become involved. | 10/12/11 17:48:21 By - Tim Johnson
Iranian envoy says his country backs 'strong' Iraq
Iran would like to see a strong and stable Iraq and isn't likely to be concerned about which country trains the Iraqi armed forces, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq told McClatchy. | 09/29/11 18:04:59 By - Roy Gutman
Protesters hope to end terrorist label for Iranian group
Thousands of supporters of Iran's leading opposition group rallied outside the State Department on Friday, calling on the agency to take the group off its list of terrorist organizations. | 08/26/11 18:10:46 By - Adam Sege
Mullen accuses Iran of arming anti-U.S. forces in Iraq
Iran is sending Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq the most lethal weapons it's ever provided them, aimed at killing American troops there, the top U.S. military officer said. He made the accusation on the same day two American service members were killed in Baghdad by a type of bomb that U.S. officials say comes from Iran. | 07/07/11 18:59:15 By - Nancy A. Youssef
Americans plead guilty to selling jet, helicopter parts to Iran
Millions of dollars worth of fighter jet and attack helicopter parts were exported to Iran through the French company Aerotechnic, authorities said. The parts were for the the Bell AH-1 attack helicopter, the UH-1 Huey attack helicopter and F-4 and F-5 fighter jets. The U.S. gave the aircraft to Iran before the country's revolution in 1979. | 06/24/11 07:32:54 By - Amy Leigh Womack
Iran steps in to help Iraqi electricity providers
Iran has agreed to provide diesel fuel to Iraq's neighborhood electricity generators under an accord reached late Wednesday with Iraq's Ministry of Electricity. | 06/23/11 15:12:54 By - Sahar Issa
Venezuelan oil company sanctioned for violating Iran embargo
Venezuela’s state-run oil company was slapped with sanctions on Tuesday for allegedly supporting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, in a move that appeared designed to protect U.S. consumers while throwing a wrench into the company’s global finances. | 05/25/11 06:57:59 By - Jim Wyss
New U.S. sanctions hit Iran's gasoline imports
The United States for the first time Tuesday implemented sanctions to strangle Iran's gasoline imports in a major tightening of punitive measures that's aimed at cutting off money for Tehran's nuclear program but could intensify ordinary Iranians' economic hardships. | 05/24/11 13:27:55 By - Jonathan S. Landay
State Department cables reveal U.S. thirst for all things Iranian
Top Iranian security officials allegedly discussed staging a student takeover of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran in 2009, much as students had seized the U.S. Embassy there three decades earlier, according to a State Department cable. The second-hand anecdote is one of hundreds about Iran contained in classified U.S. cables obtained by WikiLeaks and recently passed to McClatchy. | 04/17/11 17:00:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Missing man from Florida may be captive in southwest Asia
A Florida man missing near Iran since 2007 may be alive and being held in southwest Asia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday. | 03/03/11 16:38:45 By - Lesley Clark
Iran, major powers in critical talks on nuclear dispute
With its nuclear program under fire, Iran sat down at the table with world powers Friday in Istanbul for talks with an uncertain agenda and uncertain chances of a breakthrough. Expectations were low but the stakes high in only the third set of such high-level talks in 16 months. | 01/21/11 15:52:46 By - Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor
Iran executes two for alleged ties to Israel, militant exile group
Two Iranian men were executed Tuesday in Tehran's Evin Prison, one for allegedly spying for Israel and the other for belonging to a group dedicated to the violent overthrow of the Islamic revolution. | 12/28/10 11:53:58 By - Laura Kasinof
Iran agrees to more nuclear talks next month
Iran agreed Tuesday to another international meeting next month on its nuclear program, though it appeared that two days of talks in Geneva had made little progress in the seven-year push for it to guarantee that it isn't seeking to build a nuclear weapon. | 12/08/10 07:43:32 By - Michael Adler
Talks underway in Geneva over Iranian nuclear program
An official called the first session "constructive and positive" and said Iran agreed that international fears that it is trying to develop a nuclear weapon should be the focus of the talks. However, the Iranians and officials from six other countries, including the United States, did not lunch together. | 12/06/10 14:35:29 By - Michael Adler
Iran backs Maliki for second term as prime minister
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki received the clearest backing yet from Iran in his struggle to remain prime minister. The alliance would appear to pull Iraq closer into Iran's orbit. | 10/18/10 17:37:50 By - Jane Arraf
Lindsey Graham says U.S. must prepare to attack Iran
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Monday that the United States must be prepared to use military force to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon — and added that the last-resort step should be taken with the goal of overthrowing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. | 09/20/10 15:30:44 By - James Rosen
Iran begins fueling nuclear reactor — and that's good news
On Saturday, technicians began loading low-enriched uranium fuel supplied by Russia into Iran's first civilian nuclear reactor, and if all goes smoothly, the Bushehr plant could start producing electricity under United Nations monitoring late this year or early next. Those events embody what the U.S. and many others consider an ideal solution to the Iranian nuclear dispute. | 08/20/10 17:17:33 By - Jonathan S. Landay
U.S. Treasury unveils new action against Iran
Tightening its grip on the Iranian economy, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new actions Tuesday against individuals and companies tied to the feared Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and identified many Iran-connected companies in Germany and elsewhere. | 08/03/10 18:15:06 By - Kevin G. Hall and Warren P. Strobel
How did Iranian nuclear scientist end up in Washington?
An Iranian nuclear scientist who'd been missing for more than a year amid Iranian claims that the CIA had abducted him turned up at the Pakistani embassy in Washington on Tuesday and was preparing to return home, after providing what a U.S. official said was "useful information" about Iran's nuclear program. | 07/13/10 20:07:55 By - Warren P. Strobel, Saeed Shah and Jonathan S. Landay
Missing Iranian nuclear scientist at Pakistan embassy in D.C.
An Iranian nuclear scientist, missing for over a year amid claims that he had been abducted by the CIA, has emerged at the Pakistani embassy in Washington apparently asking to be returned home, Pakistani officials said Tuesday. | 07/13/10 06:30:22 By - Saeed Shah
European Union approves the toughest Iran sanctions ever
In a diplomatic turnabout after years of U.S.-European strains over how to confront Iran's nuclear enrichment program, the 27-nation European Union Thursday gave initial approval to the toughest sanctions on Iran in its history. | 06/17/10 18:28:20 By - Warren P. Strobel
Obama administration unveils new Iran economic sanctions
The Obama administration unveiled new measures Wednesday to isolate Iran commercially and financially from the rest of the world in hopes of convincing the Gulf nation to suspend its uranium enrichment program. | 06/16/10 19:45:00 By - Kevin G. Hall
Iraq's new parliament meets for first time, and promptly suspends
Iraq's parliament was sworn in Monday in an abbreviated session that some politicians said marked the beginning of greater political problems. Almost all the 325 members gathered along with foreign diplomats at Saddam Hussein's former convention center to pledge to protect Iraq's sovereignty and independence. | 06/14/10 16:12:01 By - Jane Arraf
A year after post-election revolt, Iran 'in political purgatory'
Something remarkable happened last week at the gold-domed shrine to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic and its most revered figure, in Tehran. At ceremonies marking the 21st anniversary of Khomeini's death, religious hard-liners and members of the Basiji militia heckled Khomeini's grandson, Hassan, for sympathizing with the opposition Green Movement and forced him off the stage. | 06/11/10 17:48:30 By - Warren P. Strobel
Civilian toll of Iranian raids in northern Iraq enrages Kurds
Outrage is growing in Iraq's northern Kurdish territories over renewed Iranian air and artillery strikes against Kurdish rebels in the remote Qandil Mountains, officials and residents said. | 06/07/10 15:52:17 By - Yasseen Taha and Hannah Allam
Iraq reopens foreign ministry 8 months after bombing
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki officially reopened Iraq's bombed foreign ministry Wednesday in what foreign and Iraqi diplomats said was proof that the country would not be defeated by truck bombs or terrorists. | 05/19/10 18:50:21 By - Jane Arraf
Q&A: Iraq had elections, so why isn't there a new government?
Millions of Iraqi voters defied bombings and intimidation to cast ballots in the country's March 7 parliamentary election, which was billed as historic because it was the first since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 to be organized, carried out and secured by Iraqis. | 05/18/10 17:50:42 By - Baghdad staff
U.S., other major powers agree on new Iran sanctions
The United States and other major powers Tuesday put new pressure on Iran to suspend its nuclear program by agreeing to a new set of United Nations sanctions that would toughen a conventional arms embargo, tighten restrictions on Iranian banks and broaden searches of Iran-bound cargoes. | 05/18/10 12:11:28 By - Jonathan S. Landay
U.S., allies critical of new 'deal' on Iran's nuclear program
President Barack Obama indicated Monday that he isn't satisfied with a deal that Brazil and Turkey have negotiated with Iran to send some of its nuclear fuel abroad because it fails to address Tehran's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program. | 05/17/10 15:37:39 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Clinton, Ahmadinejad spar over Iran's nuclear enrichment plans
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Monday demanded strong U.N. sanctions against Iran for defying demands to halt its enrichment of uranium after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted there was no "credible proof" that his regime is seeking nuclear weapons. | 05/03/10 15:48:23 By - Jonathan S. Landay
How U.S. weapons technology is finding its way to Iran
The shadow war between the U.S. and Iran was briefly visible this week at an extradition hearing in a Paris courtroom, where an Iranian engineer was answering U.S. charges that he'd illegally shipped U.S. technology to Iran. | 04/15/10 20:27:57 By - Warren P. Strobel
Have Iran and its allies been passing phony $100 bills in Iraq?
At least $4 million in counterfeit U.S. currency has flooded into Iraq since December, and U.S. and Iraqi officials are trying to determine how much of the counterfeiting is purely criminal and how much might be an Iranian attempt to influence Iraqi politics. | 04/15/10 18:00:16 By - Hannah Allam
Iran, U.S. trade verbal brickbats at start of Persian New Year
The United States and Iran are throwing more rhetorical brickbats, blaming each other at the start of the Persian New Year for failure to embrace engagement initiatives, and reviving language drawn from decades of mutual demonization. | 03/22/10 17:56:28 By - Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor
Iran arrests most wanted militant, claims he had covert U.S. support
Iran has arrested its most wanted fugitive, a Sunni Muslim rebel leader linked to a number of high-profile attacks and alleged to have Western backing in what Tehran on Tuesday called "a great defeat for the U.S. and U.K." | 02/23/10 14:36:56 By - Scott Peterson
War game shows how attacking Iran could backfire
A recent war game conducted at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, part of the Washington-based Brookings Institution, provided some insight into just how dangerous an attack to thwart Iran's nuclear program could be. In the game, Israel successfully knocked out six of Iran's nuclear sites, but Iran's retaliation set off a chain of events that forced a massive U.S. military move in the Persian Gulf. The lesson: even a "successful" strike would likely come at tremendous cost. | 02/21/10 22:09:56 By - Warren P. Strobel
Iran may be seeking nuclear warhead, U.N. watchdog says
The United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Thursday it suspects that Iran might be trying to develop a nuclear warhead that could be placed atop a missile, its sharpest challenge to date of Iran's claims to be pursuing an exclusively peaceful nuclear program. | 02/18/10 13:32:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Hand of diplomacy not working, Obama may get tougher on Iran
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's new description of Iran as a budding "military dictatorship" opens a new, more confrontational chapter in the Obama administration's dealings with Iran and indicates that a year's worth of attempts to engage Tehran have failed for now. | 02/16/10 20:16:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
U.S. begins Mideast push for ideas on Iranian solution
The top U.S. military officer and the secretary of state kicked off a series of visits throughout the Middle East Sunday, reaching out to the Arab world as the Obama administration pushes for tougher sanctions against Iran and its nuclear ambitions. | 02/14/10 16:42:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
Iran suppresses protests as leader proclaims 'nuclear state'
Iran's government smothered Tehran and other major cities with security forces Thursday, overwhelming opposition protesters who gathered in small groups despite threats of repression on the 31st anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution. | 02/11/10 19:25:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
As Iran protests loom, Obama sticks to a cautious script
As huge new street protests loom in Tehran on Thursday, the 31st anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution, the Obama administration is keeping its distance from the opposition movement that sprouted during last June's disputed presidential elections. Senior U.S. officials say that, given the sorry history of American intervention in Iran, any effort the U.S. government makes to help the opposition will do more harm than good. | 02/09/10 19:04:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Iran's uranium enrichment: 'a really bad development'
Iran told the United Nations' nuclear watchdog Monday that it will begin producing purer uranium, a step that experts said could bring Tehran significantly closer to having the fuel for a nuclear weapon. | 02/08/10 18:55:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Iran protests could complicate push for sanctions
As they have three times before, the U.S. and leading European powers are gearing up to impose United Nations sanctions on Iran, steps that since 2006 have failed to deter Tehran from continuing its suspected nuclear weapons program. | 01/28/10 18:52:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Rarely used flying bomb strikes new targets in Iraq
U.S. troops stationed at an outpost in southern Iraq heard a chilling whistle, and then a 60-pound airborne bomb punched through a concrete blast wall and sent shrapnel flying, wounding three Americans. | 01/15/10 15:47:00 By - Hannah Allam
Turmoil in Iran could make nuclear sanctions more effective
As the Obama administration considers new measures to curb Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program, the Islamic Republic's internal unrest and the growing influence of its Revolutionary Guard Corps may make it more vulnerable to new sanctions. | 01/04/10 14:53:00 By - Scott Peterson
State of emergency in Isfahan as Iran protests intensify
Iranian security forces and opposition protesters stepped up clashes on Wednesday in the city of Isfahan, the birthplace of Iran's top dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died over the weekend. Pro-regime Basiji militiamen used batons, chains, and stones to beat mourners who gathered at the city's main mosque to remember Montazeri, the spiritual mentor of the Iranian opposition. | 12/23/09 17:01:00 By - Scott Peterson
Top dissident cleric's death poses a challenge to Iran's rulers
The death of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, for 20 years a fearless critic of the Islamic regime he helped to create, will be a blow to Iran's opposition "Green Movement," by silencing a supporting voice from one of the highest-ranking theologians in the Shiite Muslim world. | 12/21/09 14:41:00 By - Scott Peterson
Iraq accuses Iran of sending troops to seize disputed oil well
Senior officials in Baghdad and in southern Iraq said that an unknown number of Iranian troops crossed into Iraq early Friday, where they raised the Iranian flag at an oil well in Iraq's part of the Fakkah oil field, one of several fields that Iraq and Iran share. There were no reports of violence or shots fired, but the incident sent Iraqi security chiefs scrambling into emergency meetings. | 12/18/09 16:52:00 By - Hannah Allam
Iranian dissident group defies order to leave Iraq
An Iranian dissident group vowed Tuesday not to abandon its besieged camp north of Baghdad despite an Iraqi military ultimatum to pull up stakes or face an eviction that could turn bloody. | 12/15/09 15:51:00 By - Laith Hammoudi
Iranian nuclear scientist goes missing in Saudi Arabia
The mysterious disappearance of Shahram Amiri, an award-winning Iranian nuclear scientists who vanished while on a religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, has turned into a Middle Eastern whodunit. Iran charges that Saudi Arabia and the United States conspired to abduct Amiri. The U.S. won't comment. | 12/09/09 16:00:00 By - Hannah Allam
U.S. steps up pressure on Iran over missing ex-FBI agent
The White House and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Thursday for Iran to divulge any information it has about Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who went missing from a Persian Gulf island in March 2007. The statement from the White House came as the Coral Springs, Fla., man's family marked the 1,000th day of his disappearance with meetings at the State Department and the FBI. | 12/03/09 17:50:00 By - Lesley Clark
Are Iran's nuclear enrichment threats mostly bluster?
One day after announcing plans for 10 new nuclear sites, Iran is sending mixed messages about its membership in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. | 11/30/09 16:44:00 By - Scott Peterson
White House says world moving toward new Iran sanctions
The United Nations nuclear agency Friday blasted Iran for obstructing investigations into its suspected nuclear weapons program and demanded that the Islamic Republic stop construction of a once-secret facility. | 11/27/09 14:12:00 By - Margaret Talev and Nancy A. Youssef
U.S. moves to seize California mosque with possible Iran link
The federal government has moved to seize a Carmichael, Calif., mosque and seven other properties from Texas to New York owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization that federal prosecutors allege is a front for the Iranian government. The forfeiture action marks the latest step in a long-standing investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan into the New York-based Alavi Foundation, which owns all the properties targeted in Thursday's complaint. Federal prosecutors allege that the Alavi Foundation for years has illegally funneled money to Iran from its financial holdings in the United States. | 11/13/09 06:50:34 By - Sam Stanton and Jennifer Garza
Iran comes to defense of Yemeni Shiites, warns Saudis
Iran offered on Wednesday to take part in a "collective approach" to resolving an escalating Shiite rebellion in Yemen that has pulled Saudi Arabia into the fighting. But analysts cautioned that hostilities did not yet add up to a proxy regional conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia. | 11/11/09 18:05:00 By - Scott Peterson
Iran charges strayed U.S. hikers with spying
Iran has charged three Americans with espionage, after they strayed during a hiking trip in northern Iraq this past July, in a move likely to complicate U.S. overtures toward Iran. | 11/09/09 18:30:00 By - Scott Peterson
Last American seized at U.S. embassy in Iran recalls the day
It was 30 years ago Wednesday that demonstrators in Iran stormed the U.S. Embassy and seized 66 Americans. They would be held hostage for 444 days -- an event that scars America to this day. Rick Kupke, of Arlington, Texas, was encrypting classified messages inside the embassy when the demonstrators stormed it. He was the last American captured. Here's his recollection of what happened. | 11/02/09 07:42:12 By - Anna M. Tinsley
Iran waffles on accepting international nuclear agreement
Iran hedged Friday on accepting a deal that would transfer most of its low-enriched uranium out of the country to be converted for peaceful uses, saying it wants more time to study the deal and suggesting that it prefers a different approach. | 10/23/09 18:54:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Bunker buster bomb carries goal of deterring Iran
Even as Washington emphasizes walking softly to pry Iran away from its nuclear ambitions, the Pentagon is speeding the manufacture of its own big stick. | 10/23/09 17:51:15 By - Scott Canon
Iranian Nobel winner urges Obama to stress human rights
In 2003, Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and former jurist, won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on human rights. Despite the dangers to herself and her family, Ebadi still lives and works inside the Islamic Republic of Iran and calls herself a "bone in the throat" of the regime. | 10/14/09 18:01:00 By - Leila Fadel
Russia rejects, for now, talk about sanctions against Iran
If Hillary Clinton was hoping to win Russian support for efforts to use a threat of sanctions to pressure Iran come clean about its nuclear ambitions, her first trip to Moscow as secretary of state got off to a rocky start Tuesday. | 10/13/09 17:47:00 By - Tom Lasseter
Democrats in Congress push Obama for Iran sanctions
Congressional Democrats pushed the Obama administration on Tuesday to get behind tough economic sanctions against Iran, and they voiced deep skepticism that direct negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions will prove fruitful. | 10/06/09 18:10:00 By - Kevin G. Hall and Warren P. Strobel
U.S. public backs Obama in dealing with Iran on nukes
When it comes to dealing with Iran as a nuclear threat, two polls out Tuesday find that Americans agree with President Barack Obama's approach of combining diplomacy and the threat of sanctions. | 10/06/09 18:07:00 By - Margaret Talev
Iran agrees to ship enriched uranium to Russia for refinement
The agreement in principle would ensure that Iran's uranium could not be used for nuclear weapons. Iran also pledged that it would allow inspection, within weeks, of a previously covert uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, announced he will head to Tehran to work out the details. | 10/01/09 11:05:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev
Chances are slim for breakthrough at Iran nuclear talks
Iran and six other nations will hold their first talks in 14 months Thursday in Geneva, but despite the participation of a senior U.S. diplomat, chances for a quick breakthrough appear bleak, especially after last week's revelation of a previously covert Iranian nuclear facility. It will be the first face-to-face talks with the Iranians for the Obama administration. | 09/30/09 17:50:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev
Obama wins praise for orchestrating response to Iran
The revelation Friday that Iran has been building a secret nuclear facility capped a calculated effort by President Obama to assemble a unified international response to Iran's nuclear program ahead of a six-nation meeting next Thursday in Switzerland. | 09/25/09 18:38:00 By - Steven Thomma
Under prodding, Ahmadinejad invites inspection of nuclear site
On the defensive Friday from Western accusations about a secret uranium-enrichment facility, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran had acted legally, and he offered to open the site to international inspections. | 09/25/09 18:47:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
New Iran sanctions: Can U.S. bring other countries on board?
The U.S. and its allies Friday gave Iran two months to comply with demands to come clean on its expanding nuclear program, or face broader international sanctions, perhaps even targeting the country's gasoline imports. Experts don't expect Iran to change course, however, making it likely that President Barack Obama will have to convince other nations to do as the U.S. and adopt financial sanctions. | 09/25/09 17:54:00 By - Kevin G. Hall
Kansas doctor's side practice: working to overthrow Iran regime
Saeid Sajadi left Iran when he was 20 — nearly a quarter of a century ago — to escape the religious repression. He now operates three cosmetic medicine clinics in Kansas and Missouri and practices emergency medicine as well. Sajadi also probably logs several hundred air miles each week to help a group of Iranian dissidents devoted to toppling the regime. | 09/25/09 14:57:00 By - David Goldstein
Read transcript of White House background briefing on Iran's new nuclear site
This is the White House transcript of a briefing with senior administration officials on the Iranian nuclear facility that Obama and the leaders of France and Great Britain denounced Friday. | 09/25/09 13:30:01 By -
Disclosure of nuclear site puts heat on Iran
Western powers and Russia Friday turned up the heat on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program after the United States, France and Britain revealed that the Islamic Republic has secretly been building an underground facility that could be used to produce nuclear weapons fuel. | 09/25/09 08:35:24 By - Jonathan S. Landay, Margaret Talev and Warren P. Strobel
U.N. unanimously backs Obama on nuclear disarmament goal
With President Barack Obama in the chair at the U.N. Security Council, world powers Thursday endorsed his goal of a nuclear weapons-free world and pledged to strengthen the shaky international system for preventing the spread of nuclear arms. | 09/24/09 17:31:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Obama's outreach to Iran could stall over nuclear issue
In its latest offer for talks with the leading world powers, Iran makes no promise to negotiate on its suspected nuclear weapons program, further complicating President Barack Obama's hopes of starting negotiations with Tehran before the end of the month, the State Department and European diplomats said Thursday. | 09/10/09 20:40:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
U.S. says Iran soon may be able to build one nuclear bomb
U.S. ambassador Glyn Davies told the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program is nearing a "dangerous and destabilizing possible breakout capacity." | 09/09/09 19:48:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
U.S., Iraq cracking down on anti-Iran Kurdish guerrillas
A noose is tightening around the group that calls itself the last armed resistance to Iran's Islamic republic, but the Kalashnikov-carrying guerrillas are refusing to lay down their weapons and leave their camouflaged outposts in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. | 09/06/09 06:00:00 By - Adam Ashton
Iran rulers' move to tighten grip shuts out dissenters
More than two months after a disputed presidential election threw Iran's ruling class into turmoil, the country's leaders are showing themselves increasingly unwilling to compromise with their critics, a trend analysts say could mean even tougher steps against would-be reformers in the future. | 08/21/09 16:27:00 By - Hannah Allam
Iran resumes political trials, but they could backfire
Iranian state-run television Saturday announced that a trial had resumed for more than 100 opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but critics say the tactic is backfiring. | 08/08/09 14:09:00 By - Hannah Allam and D. Parvaz
Ahmadinejad takes oath as Iran's crisis continues
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn into office Wednesday, beginning a second term amid pointed questions about the legitimacy of Tehran's theocratic regime and no let-up in the crisis triggered by his election. | 08/05/09 18:49:00 By - Hannah Allam
Iran accuses 3 Americans of entering the country illegally
The Iranian government Tuesday confirmed that it has arrested three American travelers who crossed the border from Iraq last week and accused them of illegal entry. The University of California, Berkeley, identified the detained Americans as Shane Bauer, 27, of Minnesota, Sarah Emily Shourd, 30, of California, and Joshua Felix Fattal, 27 of Pennsylvania. | 08/04/09 13:16:00 By - Adam Ashton
Iranian TV confirms arrest of three Americans
Iranian state TV on Saturday confirmed the arrests of three Americans who crossed into Iran from northern Iraq. Their identities haven't been released. The scenic area in Iraq's Kurdistan region, where the Americans apparently strayed across the border into Iran, is popular as a hiking and tourism destination. | 08/01/09 13:28:00 By - McClatchy Newspapers
Trials begin in Iran for many arrested in opposition protests
More than 100 leading opposition activists stood trial in Iran on Saturday, the first since the government's crackdown in the violent aftermath of June's disputed presidential election, according to Iranian state media. The reports didn't specify when a verdict could be expected. | 08/01/09 10:05:11 By - Hannah Allam
Iran detains three Americans who strayed across border
Three American civilians were detained in Iran when they apparently strayed across the border from Iraq, Iraqi security officials said Friday. A spokesman for the Multi-National Forces-Iraq in Baghdad confirmed that Americans had gone missing, and the U.S. embassy in Baghdad said it is investigating | 07/31/09 18:36:00 By - Adam Ashton and Yaseen Taha
Iraq raids camp of Iranian opposition group U.S. protected
Iraqi authorities raided the camp of a small Iranian opposition group living in the north of Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least four of the group's members in a spate of clashes that ensued, members of the group said. Since the U.S. handed control of the camp to Iraqi authorities on Jan.1, Iraq has increased efforts to push the group out. | 07/28/09 20:59:00 By - Laith Hammoudi and Leila Fadel
With Mousavi in audience, Rafsanjani assails Iran's leaders
Government security forces beat demonstrators and fired tear gas in central Tehran Friday after one of the country's most influential clerics told a huge crowd of opposition supporters that the government would lose its claim to Islamic legitimacy if it didn't address widespread doubts about the results of June's presidential election. | 07/17/09 16:02:00 By - McClatchy Newspapers
Clinton urges Iran to negotiate on nuclear program
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday reaffirmed the U.S. offer to engage directly with Iran's leaders despite last month's post-election violence, but cautioned that the offer isn't open-ended, and urged Iran to respond soon. | 07/15/09 20:03:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Thousands rally in Tehran with bitter new cry
Chanting a bitter new rallying cry, thousands of Iranians marched through Tehran Thursday in the latest protest over last month's disputed presidential election, but teargas-firing riot police blocked them from reaching their intended goal of Tehran University. | 07/09/09 19:49:00 By - a McClatchy special correspondent
U.S. military didn't want to release Iranians held in Iraq
U.S. spokesmen in Baghdad and Washington said the United States had no choice but to free the five men under the terms of last year's Status of Forces Agreement, which requires the United States eventually to transfer the more than 10,000 Iraqi and third-country detainees it now holds. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. military turned the five over to Iraq after Iraq issued arrest warrants for all third-country nationals in U.S. custody. | 07/09/09 18:53:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Mike Tharp
Sanctions on North Korean firms indirectly target Iran
The Obama administration on Tuesday slapped financial sanctions on two North Korean firms, including one based in Iran, over a series of provocative actions involving weapons. The move also indirectly took aim at Iran, which has cracked down violently on protests of the disputed June 12 presidential election. | 06/30/09 20:34:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay and Kevin G. Hall
Police block protests as Iran confirms election results
The Iranian government's electoral watchdog Monday confirmed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide victory in the disputed June 12 presidential election after police wielding batons and cables prevented more than a thousand demonstrators from organizing a rally to protest the results. | 06/29/09 20:08:00 By - a McClatchy special correspondent and Jonathan S. Landay
In Afghanistan, crackdown hurts Iran's once-sterling image
Last week, the Iranian Consulate in Herat, an Afghan city near the Iranian border, complained to the Afghan Ministry of Culture that the student newspaper, "Pegah," was inappropriately critical of Tehran's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. The newspaper was closed for 10 days, the university fired the responsible journalists and the paper was reopened with no news of the protests. But the measure is likely to backfire among a youthful population that until the events of the past weeks had looked up to Iran. | 06/29/09 18:28:00 By - Philip Smucker
Iran's crackdown complicates Obama's push for direct talks
President Barack Obama acknowledged Friday that his hopes for a direct U.S.-Iran dialogue, one of his signature foreign policy initiatives, have been dashed for now by the Iranian government's violent quashing of protests over the disputed June 12 election. | 06/26/09 20:10:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Harsh sermon may signal bigger crackdown on Iranian opposition
A senior cleric aligned with Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Friday for leaders of the mass protests over the country's disputed presidential election to be dealt with "mercilessly" and treated as enemies of God, a transgression meriting death. | 06/26/09 19:07:00 By - a McClatchy special correspondent and Jonathan S. Landay
South Florida Iranians using Internet to help back home
South Florida Iranians are not just attending rallies and vigils for compatriots back home, but actively helping them through the Internet. | 06/26/09 06:58:49 By - Jared Goyette and Trenton Daniel
Iranians mourn slain woman as power struggle continues
Defying an official ban, hundreds of people held a graveside tribute Thursday for the woman who's become a symbol of the Iranian opposition after she was killed while protesting the country's disputed election. Some experts Thursday said they thought Iran's worst political crisis in 30 years was entering a new phase. | 06/25/09 20:16:00 By - a McClatchy special correspondent and Jonathan S. Landay
New clashes erupt in Tehran as police disperse protesters
Security forces swinging batons and firing tear gas clashed Wednesday with demonstrators who ignored a new demand by Iran's supreme leader to end nearly two weeks of protests and accept the disputed results of the country's June 12 presidential election. | 06/24/09 20:25:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
In a makeshift Afghan teahouse, Iranian truckers debate election
Amid the tire irons and crow bars in a disabled Russian armored personnel carrier-turned Afghan tea house, Iranian truck drivers Wednesday debated allegations that their government rigged Iran's June 12 presidential elections — and whether it did so by the thousands or by the millions. | 06/24/09 18:39:00 By - Philip Smucker
Iranian hard-liners attempt to shut down opposition movement
Iran's hard-line leaders moved aggressively Tuesday to silence protests over the disputed June 12 presidential election, rejecting demands for a new vote and announcing that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn in for second term as early as July 26. | 06/23/09 20:13:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Obama condemns Iran in strongest language yet
"The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days," Obama said. "I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost." They were his strongest words yet on events in Iran. | 06/23/09 13:19:44 By - Margaret Talev and Steven Thomma
Iran situation hits home for Iranians in U.S.
It's been 30 years since Macon resident Seyedmehdi Mobini left his home in northern Iran to attend school in the United States, but the memories are still vivid in his mind. In 1978, Mobini and his wife risked their lives by taking part in protests against the Shah of Iran as part of the Iranian Revolution. | 06/23/09 12:53:43 By - Carl Lewis
Ex-shah's son urges louder protest of Iran rights abuses
The former crown prince of Iran on Monday urged foreign leaders to condemn more forcefully the Iranian regime's crackdown on more than a week of mass protests in his homeland over the alleged rigging of the June 12 presidential election. | 06/22/09 18:05:00 By - Grace Chung
Video
The YouTube video purports to show a stadium, labeled Shiroudi Sports Compound, today June 22, in Tehran that has been taken over as a base by the Basij militia. | 06/22/09 14:24:41 By -
Iran protests smaller but met with violence
Iran descended further into chaos Saturday, as security forces used guns, tear gas and metal batons against defiant protesters, protesters fought back and the toll of dead and injured mounted in the country's escalating post-election crisis. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, sharpened his criticism of an Iranian government that he had hoped to engage in diplomacy. | 06/20/09 15:22:17 By - Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay
Iran regime sought legitimacy, but it got calls for its removal
It was the morning of Friday, June 12, and Massomeh Ebtekar had just cast her vote. A supporter of challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ebtekar had no doubt that she was voting for a continuation of Iran's Islamic revolutionary experiment, but with more freedoms and an opening to the West. | 06/19/09 20:55:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Congress condemns Iran's crackdown on protesters
Congress voted resoundingly Friday to condemn the Iranian government's crackdown on protesters, sending a strong bipartisan signal to the White House that it wants less caution and more outrage. | 06/19/09 18:03:00 By - David Lightman
Iran opposition defies ayatollah, schedules protests on Saturday
Iran's opposition Friday called for a major new protest over the disputed presidential election, defying a demand by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and setting the stage for a potentially violent showdown in the streets with security forces and militias. | 06/19/09 14:47:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Iran regime sought legitimacy, but it got calls for its removal
Iran's ruling class expected the 2009 elections to lend a fresh injection of legitimacy to the Iranian system of rule. It has instead called that system into question for hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Iranians. | 06/19/09 21:21:31 By - Warren P. Strobel
Video | Guards invade homes in Iran
This YouTube video purportedly shows Basiji revolutionary guards invading homes in Esfahan, Iran. | 06/19/09 18:01:01 By -
Human Rights Watch: Halt the crackdown
The Iranian government should immediately end its nationwide crackdown on opposition activity, Human Rights Watch said Friday. | 06/19/09 19:20:45 By -
Report: What Mousavi wants you to know
Mohsen Makhmalbaf writes in today's Guardian that presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi's headquarters was wrecked by plainclothes police officers and that the commanders of the revolutionary guard ordered him to stay silent. Makhmalbaf is to urge people to take to the streets because Mousavi could not do so directly. | 06/19/09 17:44:05 By - Jim Van Nostrand
Commentary: A new Iranian revolution?
Governments rig elections for only one reason: They're afraid of the people. The fear appears to run deep among Iran's ruling mullahs and their allies. The massive demonstrations since Friday's presidential election show that their worries are well-founded. | 06/18/09 15:51:01 By - The (Tacoma) News Tribune
Now, Ahmadinejad's corner: Chavez, Swaziland and Hamas
It's a small list, the national leaders who've stepped forward to congratulate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his disputed election victory. Hamas, Hezbollah, the King of Swaziland — and Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. | 06/17/09 19:04:00 By - Tyler Bridges
Why the official Iranian election results are suspect
In American politics, it would be as if President George W. Bush won re-election over Sen. John Kerry in 2004 by taking Kerry's home state of Massachusetts, doing surprisingly well in liberal New York City and besting his 2000 vote totals by 40 percent. With no way to verify the Iranian vote, skeptics cite unexplained police movements, the exceptionally fast counting of handwritten ballots and some inexplicable election returns. | 06/17/09 18:57:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Thousands of Iranians march in defiance as death toll reaches 32
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded through Tehran in a fifth day of unauthorized protests demanding the annulment of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election. The drama could heighten: Defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi on his Web site called for another massive march on Thursday despite the government ban. | 06/17/09 15:51:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay
How do you know if you can trust tweets from Iran?
Many media organizations, present company included, have turned to social networking sites, including Twitter in the search for first-hand information on what's happening in Iran, especially since Iranian authorities have greatly restricted what foreign journalists there can report on and have stopped renewing journalists' visas. But who can tell what's reliable and what isn't on Twitter? | 06/17/09 16:00:11 By - Frank James
Iran human rights group puts Sunday-Monday toll at 32
The Association of Huamn Rights Activists in Iran is reporting that 32 people died Sunday and Monday in Tehran. | 06/17/09 15:39:05 By - Human Rights Activists in Iran
Iran's soccer team wears green wristbands in South Korea
Iran's national soccer team players pose during the 2010 FIFA World Cup Asia group 2 qualifying soccer match against South Korea at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 17 2009. Five Iranian soccer players, including captain Ali Karimi, front row second from left, wore green wristbands in an apparent sign of support for Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. (AP Photo/Min Kyung-hoon) | 06/17/09 15:04:24 By - Associated Press
The fog of cyberwar
John Murrell at Good Morning Silicon Valley writes that it's easy to get caught up in the enthusiasm over Twitter's newly prominent place in people-power politics in the aftermath of the disputed Iranian election. | 06/17/09 12:58:35 By - Jim Van Nostrand
Iran subject of 3 documentaries on U.S. TV in next 7 days
The continuing fallout from the Islamic revolution that toppled the shah, ranging from the broadly political to the intimately personal, is the subject of three spellbinding documentaries to be televised during the next week. Watching them makes it depressingly clear what a vast gulf -- of history, of politics, of culture, of elemental perception of human nature -- exists between the two countries, and why American presidents as diverse as Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have found it impossible to bridge. | 06/17/09 12:46:45 By - Glenn Garvin
Iran's senior ayatollah slams election, confirming split
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri accused the regime of handling charges of fraud in last week's presidential election and the massive protests that followed "in the worst way possible" and warned police and the military that following orders to suppress protesters "will not excuse them before God." | 06/16/09 10:09:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay
Grand ayatollah voices dismay over election, police response
Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, a leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution who has feuded often with Khamenei and once vied with him for Iran's top position, released a sharp letter saying that "no one in their right mind can believe" the reported election results. Montazeri urged the military and police not to "sell their religion" by crushing the protests. | 06/16/09 16:15:38 By - Warren P. Strobel
TEHRAN VIDEO: Hospital protest places death toll at 8
A video was posted on Youtube showing hundreds of white coat-clad doctors and nurses marching Tuesday morning around Rasoul Akram Hospital protesting the killing of eight opposition supporters and the wounding of 28 others by Basij gunmen at Azadi Square on Monday. | 06/16/09 13:52:01 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Iran says 7 died in Monday's violence; more rallies planned
Iran said Tuesday that seven people had been killed Monday in violence that broke out after hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched through the capital and staged a huge rally to protest what they believe was the fraudulent re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Counter demonstrations scheduled for Tuesday afternoon seemed to invite more clashes. | 06/16/09 05:46:57 By - Warren P. Strobel
Obama cautious as violent protests sweep Tehran
One person was killed and others wounded by gunfire in Tehran's Azadi Square as hundreds of thousands of Iranians defied a government ban Monday and flocked to protest the country's disputed election. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, agreed that the powerful 12-member religious Guardian Council will investigate complaints that the election was rigged. President Barack Obama spoke cautiously in his first comments about the election. | 06/15/09 11:01:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Could Ahmadinejad actually have won? Read the disputed poll
The Center for Public Opinion, a nonprofit institute that researches attitudes toward extremism, and the New America Foundation conducted a poll in Iran May 11-20, interviewing 1,001 people. They found Ahmadinejad with a large lead over his rivals then. | 06/15/09 19:31:08 By -
VIOLENCE VIDEO: Militia members open fire on Tehran crowd
This video broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 captures members of the Iranian militia opening fire on protesters who've set fire to the militia headquarters. | 06/15/09 18:36:20 By -
VIDEO FROM TEHRAN: Protester shot at Freedom Square
This video shows one of those wounded during today's demonstrations in Iran. The same person appears also in still photos shot by the Associated Press. | 06/15/09 15:28:03 By - YouTube
Iran limits Facebook, texting as it cracks down on protests
With protests still dotting Tehran, the Iranian government ordered the satellite news channel al Arabiya to close its Tehran bureau and blocked access to Facebook and text messaging services. Gunfire could be heard late Sunday coming from the direction of a square where demonstrators and police had clashed. | 06/14/09 17:43:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Police beat protesters in Iran after Ahmadinejad declared winner
TEHRAN, Iran — Violent clashes erupted between students and security forces in Iran's capital Saturday after the Iranian government declared hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the overwhelming winner of the country's presidential election. | 06/13/09 18:05:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Iran election result makes Obama's outreach efforts harder
If Ahmadinejad stays in office with his legitimacy seriously compromised, experts said it could make it harder for the U.S. to trust negotiations with the regime over its nuclear program; fuel domestic pressure on Obama to take a harder line with Iran; increase tensions with Israel; and possibly affect stability in Iraq, where Iran has long been accused of supporting armed groups. | 06/13/09 16:15:00 By - Margaret Talev
Police in Iran beat protesters after huge Ahmadinejad win
In the worst political violence in a decade, baton-wielding riot police waded into crowds of young protesters unhappy with the official result of Iran's presidential election on Saturday, which gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a 2-1 margin over challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi called the election a fraud but the result is unlikely to be overturned. | 06/13/09 11:13:27 By - Warren P. Strobel
Ahmadinejad wins huge, unexpected victory in Iran voting
Iranian news media Saturday morning reported a huge, unexpected election victory for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, giving him nearly two-thirds of the vote, far above challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi. The reported result is bound to prompt charges of a stolen election from supporters of Mousavi. | 06/12/09 17:54:31 By - Warren P. Strobel
Iranians go to polls in huge numbers in presidential vote
Across Tehran, voters and elections officials uniformly described a turnout that dwarfed that of four years ago, with some citizens saying they waited 90 minutes or more to cast their ballots in mosques, schools and other polling places. Some suggested the turnout was a record that would favor challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. | 06/12/09 06:50:01 By - Warren P. Strobel
'Reformer' is relative for Iranian election challenger
Mir Hossein Mousavi, who's mounting a credible bid to make Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the first incumbent unseated since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, has been billed in much of the Western press and even in Iran as a reformer. | 06/11/09 17:36:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Mudslinging intensifies as Iranian election nears
Two days before voters go to the polls, opposition campaigns in Iran's increasingly raucous presidential election campaign warned of vote-stealing, and decades-old political rivals slung more mud at one another. Politicking is banned after Wednesday night, and all four candidates used the last full day of campaigning to make appeals to an electorate far more energized and polarized than in 2005. | 06/10/09 17:11:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Iran's election becomes a referendum on Ahmadinejad
Tehran's Vali Asr Street, the Iranian capital's longest, was a torrent of green as youths by the thousands paraded past, holding green posters, sporting green ribbons on wrists and car antennas and drinking green fruit drinks. Their choice of color was a proclamation of support for Mir Hossein Mousavi, the candidate who suddenly seems to have a chance of ousting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. | 06/09/09 17:46:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
UN: Iran expands uranium efforts, is blocking monitoring
Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment program and is impeding United Nations monitoring of its enrichment program, a confidential U.N. report said Friday. The actions suggest that Iran is proceeding full speed ahead despite President Barack Obama's offer of unconditional talks on ending the effort, which is widely suspected to be aimed at developing nuclear weapons. | 06/05/09 18:58:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
This RSS feed has moved
Attention readers: The RSS feed for the Iran section on McClatchyDC.com has moved here as part of an upgrade to improve service. Please update your subscription in your RSS reader. | 04/13/09 17:43:27 By -
In shift, Obama administration will join Iran nuclear talks
The Obama administration significantly stepped up its diplomatic engagement with Iran on Wednesday, saying it would break with former president George W. Bush's policy and permanently join international talks with Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons program. | 04/08/09 19:14:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Despite Iran's tepid response, experts hail Obama approach
Obama's 3 1/2-minute videotaped message to Iran was unusual in two respects: he used the country's formal name, the Islamic Republic of Iran, something President Bush never did, and he twice offered Iran his "respect," something Iranian leaders have demanded. | 03/20/09 18:46:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Obama speaks to Iranian people in video message
In an unprecedented video message released Friday on the celebration of the Persian new year, President Barack Obama speaks directly to the Iranian people and government, saying his administration "is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us" and that that the process "will not be advanced by threats." | 03/20/09 00:00:00 By - Margaret Talev and Warren P. Strobel
Pressure grows on Obama to engage Iran directly
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry praised President Barack Obama's desire to have direct negotiations with Iran, but warned Tuesday that he must be prepared to do more than talk as Tehran forges ahead with its nuclear program. | 03/03/09 16:21:00 By - William Douglas
Cult-like Iranian militant group worries about its future in Iraq
Since the U.S. invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, a group of Iranian rebels he once sponsored has been protected by the U.S. military inside their camp north of Baghdad — to the outrage of the Iranian government. Thursday, that protection ended, and now the camp's 3,400 residents fear what might happen next. | 12/31/08 18:00:00 By - Leila Fadel
Iran's unpopular president is favored to win re-election
In many other countries it would be a slam-dunk for the opposition: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is increasingly unpopular, his economic policies are blamed for 30 percent annual inflation and his foreign policy has left the country more isolated than at any time in recent memory. However, this is Iran, where things are never simple. | 12/22/08 17:48:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Iran to Obama: Show us the change
Obama's pledge to talk to Iran without preconditions has raised a mixture of hope, skepticism and even apprehension among Iranians. The government is divided over how to respond while most average Iranians openly yearn for improved relations. What they all agree on is it will be up to Obama to make the first move. | 12/05/08 17:27:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Russia hopeful Obama will improve relations
WASHINGTON — Russian President Dmitri Medvedev put the onus on President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday to fix what Medvedev called a "crisis of confidence" in U.S.-Russian relations, saying Moscow would wait to see how Obama proceeds with a U.S. missile defense system before deciding whether to retaliate. | 11/15/08 18:55:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
U.S. efforts to curb nuclear weapons falter in Iran, N. Korea
The deepest freeze in U.S.-Russia relations since the Cold War has brought diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions to a halt just as Western governments and U.N. inspectors are warning that Tehran could be gaining the ability to build a nuclear weapon. Russia this week pulled out of a six-nation meeting scheduled for Thursday to discuss further sanctions against Iran. | 09/24/08 20:26:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
U.S., 5 other nations to seek tougher sanctions against Iran
Top diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States made the decision to seek the additional sanctions after Iran failed to accept by a weekend deadline an offer to resolve the crisis over its nuclear program. | 08/04/08 00:37:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Sanctions may be in store if Iran rebuffs nuclear offer
The United States and Europe are poised to seek harsher U.N. financial sanctions against Iran if it fails to meet this weekend's deadline to accept an international offer of negotiations in exchange for freezing its nuclear program, diplomats said Friday. | 08/01/08 18:34:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Obama talks tough about Iran during visit to Israel
Tough talk on Iran dominated Barack Obama's meetings Wednesday in Israel and the West Bank, as Israeli officials amplified their enemy's threat and the Democratic presidential hopeful declared that a "nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation." | 07/23/08 16:06:00 By - Margaret Talev and Dion Nissenbaum
No progress in Iran talks, so Europe, U.S. renew threats
World powers Saturday gave Iran two weeks to agree to freeze its uranium enrichment program at its current size as a first step toward full-scale negotiations on its nuclear program, or face further U.N. sanctions and isolation. | 07/19/08 16:44:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Iran 'seriously considering' new international nuclear offer
Iran's senior diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran was seriously considering a new offer from six world powers to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program, and he praised the package as "constructive." The unusually positive remarks by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to a small group of reporters raised hope that a negotiated solution can be found to defuse the crisis. | 07/01/08 17:43:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Strike on Iran nuclear sites under discussion again
Six months ago, an American intelligence report declared that Iran had shelved its nuclear-weapons program, making the likelihood of a U.S. or Israeli military strike on Iran seem remote. But Israelis have been pushing harder than ever on the subject. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have met twice in recent weeks and U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell has traveled to Israel for private briefings. | 06/11/08 16:41:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum
Did Iranian agents dupe Pentagon officials?
Pentagon counterintelligence investigators in 2003 urged a comprehensive probe into whether Iran might have used a small group of defense officials' contacts with an Iranian exile to influence U.S. policy toward Iraq and Iran. But a senior aide to then-defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld shut the investigation down, and there was no followup. The counterintelligence investigators' suspicions were revealed in a Senate Intelligence Committee report released Thursday. | 06/05/08 19:49:26 By - John Walcott
IAEA still seeking answers from Iran on nuclear plans
The International Atomic Energy Agency says in a report that Iran still is withholding information on studies it allegedly conducted as part of a secret nuclear warhead development project. The new report also indicated that Iran has become significantly more proficient at enriching uranium. | 05/26/08 17:34:35 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Iraq asks U.S., Iran to stop accusing and start talking
After months of stalled talks between the United States and Iran, the Iraqi government said it was time for the two nations to stop trading accusations and come to the table. | 05/07/08 17:00:00 By - Leila Fadel
Iraqi lawmakers press Iran to end support for militias
In an unusual initiative, five Iraqi lawmakers on Thursday presented intelligence photos and other evidence to the Iranian government that Tehran is arming and training Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq, and they demanded that it stop, senior Iraqi government officials said. | 05/01/08 18:30:00 By - Shashank Bengali
Iranian outmaneuvers U.S. in Iraq
Iranian Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani has ensured the election of pro-Iranian politicians, met frequently with Iraqi leaders, and backed Shiite elements in the Iraqi security forces. His behind-the-scenes role illustrates how President Bush's decision to topple Saddam Hussein enabled Iran to extend its influence in Iraq. | 04/28/08 15:52:00 By - Hannah Allam, Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel
General is a national hero in Iran
Reports of Qassem Suleimani's early life differ, and one U.S. counterterrorism official acknowledged that Washington's information about him is "sketchy." | 04/28/08 15:50:00 By - McClatchy Newspapers
All the talk is about Iraq, but concern about Iran is mounting
President Bush warned Iran on Thursday that the United States will "act to protect our interests," as the White House heightened its rhetorical attacks on Tehran for allegedly shipping sophisticated roadside bombs to Iraq and supporting Shiite Muslim militias there. | 04/10/08 14:15:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Bush erroneously says Iran announced desire for nuclear weapons
President Bush contended that Iran has "declared they want a nuclear weapon to destroy people" and that the Islamic Republic could be hiding a secret program. Iran, however, has never publicly proclaimed a desire for nuclear weapons and has repeatedly insisted its uranium enrichment program is for civilian power plants, not warheads. | 03/20/08 19:13:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Middle East commander resigned by phone from Iraq
Adm. William J. Fallon, the commander of all U.S. military operations in the Middle East, abruptly ended his nearly 42-year military career because of controversy over a magazine profile. | 03/11/08 19:11:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
U.S.: Iran reneged on pledge to quit supporting Iraqi militias
The top two U.S. officials in Iraq said this week that Iran was still training Iraqi Shiite Muslim militias, in violation of its promises to Iraqi leaders. | 03/05/08 18:41:00 By - Leila Fadel
Ahmadinejad: Foreigners to blame for Iraq's problems
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took another series of swipes at the Bush administration Monday, telling the "foreigners" who'd traveled thousands of miles that it was time to go home so that Iran and Iraq could develop their "brotherly connections." | 03/03/08 18:27:00 By - Leila Fadel
Visit by Iran's president shows depth of Iraq's divisions
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday became the first Iranian head of state to visit Iraq in three decades and immediately became the focus of demonstrations that underscored Iraq's sectarian split. | 03/02/08 17:13:00 By - Leila Fadel
Iranian Pres. Ahmedinejad's visit to Iraq may upstage U.S.
President Bush's leading nemesis in the Middle East, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, begins a two-day state visit to Iraq on Sunday, attempting to highlight Iran's role as the region's major power and upstage Bush and the U.S. military presence. | 02/28/08 17:38:00 By - Leila Fadel
Iran rejects U.S. weapons evidence, U.N. agency says
In recent meetings with U.N. weapons inspectors, Iranian officials rejected as "fabricated" top-secret evidence that U.S. officials have said proves that Iran has tried to develop advanced nuclear weapons, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Friday. | 02/22/08 19:52:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Iran no longer wants to talk to U.S.
Despite repeated offers from the United States, Iran has refused to set a new date for further talks between the two countries in Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday. | 01/24/08 17:59:00 By - Leila Fadel
U.S. military: Iran still meddling in Iraq
A top U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said Sunday that the use of a lethal roadside bomb thought to come from Iran declined last week after a sharp increase earlier this month. | 01/20/08 17:09:00 By - Steve Lannen
Congressional watchdog questions impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran
Two decades' worth of U.S. economic sanctions against Iran appear to have had little impact, Congress' investigative arm said Wednesday, calling into question a key pillar of President Bush's strategy to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism. | 01/16/08 17:27:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
Bush Mideast speech draws cool response
President Bush on Sunday described Iran as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and called on Arab allies to help his administration curb the threat "before it's too late." | 01/13/08 17:59:00 By - Hannah Allam
Bush targets Iran in speech
President Bush today described Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and called on Arab allies to help his administration curb the threat “before it’s too late.” | 01/13/08 17:12:53 By - Hannah Allam
Bush lashes Iran, lauds Iraq
KUWAIT CITY — President Bush, after meeting with the top two U.S. officials in Iraq and U.S. troops here Saturday, lauded progress in Iraq and again lashed out at Iran. | 01/12/08 19:06:00 By - Leila Fadel
Cheney maintains hard line on Iran
Despite the apparent halt of Iran's nuclear-weapons program four years ago, Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that Iran remained a "concern" to the United States because it continued to enrich uranium and was still on Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism. | 12/07/07 15:47:00 By - William Douglas
As debate rages, U.S. intelligence official defends new Iran report
A senior U.S. intelligence official on Thursday defended a new intelligence report that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 as "one of the most well-sourced" assessments ever produced, even as critics charged that it was rife with flaws. | 12/06/07 20:50:16 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Text of White House e-mail on August briefing
This is the e-mail the White House sent Wednesday, detailing the August briefing President Bush received from Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell on new information about Iran's nuclear weapons program. | 12/06/07 14:59:16 By -
Bush defends Iran policy amid doubts on new U.N. sanctions
President Bush worked the phones to salvage his hard-line policy toward Iran, lobbying foreign leaders for tougher economic sanctions despite a new U.S. intelligence report that concluded that the Islamic republic halted its secret nuclear weapons program four years ago. | 12/04/07 20:07:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Democratic candidates slam Bush over Iran in staid debate
Democratic presidential candidates pilloried President Bush on Tuesday for saying that "nothing's changed" in the wake of a new intelligence report concluding that Iran abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003. | 12/04/07 20:14:54 By - Matt Stearns
Israeli officials reject U.S. findings on Iran
Israeli officials, who've been warning that Iran would soon pose a nuclear threat to the world, reacted angrily Tuesday to a new U.S. intelligence finding that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development program in 2003 and to date hasn't resumed trying to produce nuclear weapons. | 12/04/07 13:29:00 By - Dion Nissenbaum
U.S. report: Iran halted nuclear weapons drive in 2003
Iran was attempting to build a nuclear weapon but halted the effort in the fall of 2003 and doesn't appear to have restarted it, the declassified key judgments of a comprehensive new U.S. intelligence report said Monday. | 12/03/07 00:58:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Experts: No firm evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons
Despite President Bush's claims that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons that could trigger "World War III," experts in and out of government say there's no conclusive evidence that Tehran has an active nuclear-weapons program. | 12/03/07 13:00:44 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Experts divided over Iranian missile capabilities
Yes, Iran has medium-range ballistic missiles that could reach American air and naval bases in the Persian Gulf and possibly hit Israel or southern Europe. No, there's no proof Iran is developing — or has — nuclear warheads for its missiles. | 11/30/07 10:49:44 By - Hannah Allam
Iran hints it could halt nuclear enrichment for a quid pro quo, 11/23/07
Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that his country could suspend uranium enrichment if the United States and Western Europe agreed to acknowledge that its nuclear program was peaceful. | 11/23/07 17:08:00 By - Matthew Schofield
IAEA meeting on Iran sets stage for more sanctions
Going against international will, Iran insisted here Thursday that it would not cease or suspend uranium enrichment, increasing the probability of a United Nations Security Council showdown over harsher sanctions against the Islamic nation. | 11/22/07 18:25:19 By - Matthew Schofield
U.S. and Iran set new Iraq talks
Iran and the United States have agreed to meet soon for a fourth round of talks on Iraqi security, underscoring what Iraqi officials say is growing, if grudging, cooperation between the two adversaries. | 11/20/07 18:53:25 By - Nancy A. Youssef
As U.S. presses for more sanctions, nations remain divided on Iran
As Iran expands its capacity to enrich uranium for what the Bush administration charges will become a nuclear weapons program, the international community is pursuing two diplomatic tracks that may be at cross purposes and lead to military action rather than a peaceful solution. | 11/18/07 06:00:00 By - Matthew Schofield
Iran stops sending a deadly weapon to its allies in Iraq
Iran appears to have stopped shipping the deadliest type of weapons used against U.S. troops in Iraq after a European government confronted Tehran with proof that the weapons came from Iranian factories and Iraqi officials warned their neighbor that instability in Iraq affects the entire region, U.S., Western and Iraqi officials said. | 11/15/07 18:54:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay and Nancy A. Youssef
Iran answers some, but not all, questions about its nuclear program
Iran has provided answers to questions about its past nuclear activities, the United Nations' atomic watchdog reported Thursday, but hasn't provided "full transparency" about its current activities and continues to enrich uranium in defiance of the U.N. Security Council. | 11/15/07 13:01:30 By - Matthew Schofield
Experts: Danger of nuclear-armed Iran may be hyped, 11/11/07
A hostile country led by anti-American ideologues appears close to developing its first nuclear weapon and, as a U.S. election approaches, the president and his advisers debate a pre-emptive military strike. Newspaper columnists demand action to stop the nuclear peril. | 11/12/07 07:43:18 By - Warren P. Strobel
Bush, Sarkozy united on Iran, Pakistan
President Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented a united front against a nuclear Iran and the crisis in Pakistan on Wednesday, highlighting a repaired Franco-American relationship that had been frayed by Paris' opposition to the Iraq war. | 11/07/07 19:33:27 By - William Douglas
U.S. to release 9 Iranians it seized in Iraq
The U.S. military soon will release nine Iranians it's holding in Iraq, including two held since January on suspicion that they'd funneled weapons and financial support to Iraqi Shiite Muslim militias. | 11/06/07 19:03:41 By - Bobby Caina Calvan
Some common questions about Iran's nuclear program
Some common questions and answers about Iran's nuclear program. | 11/04/07 07:00:13 By - Warren P. Strobel
Iran courting Arab countries to blunt U.S. hostility
Iran is intensifying its efforts win over its Arab neighbors with a campaign of high-level diplomatic visits, lucrative investment deals and a series of public statements that call for Muslim unity in the face of U.S. and Israeli "aggression" in the Middle East. | 10/26/07 17:21:00 By - Hannah Allam
New U.S. sanctions likely to weaken international unity on Iran
For more than two years, the United States has insisted that the key to stopping Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program is maintaining unified international pressure on the Islamic Republic. But on Thursday, the Bush administration signaled in no uncertain terms that it's prepared to go its own way in confronting what it considers to be a growing threat from Iran, even if doing so demolishes an increasingly shaky global consensus. | 10/25/07 18:58:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Kevin G. Hall
No more Mr. Nice: Obama raps Clinton over Iran
Could Iran be the chink in Hillary Clinton's armor her opponents have been seeking? As the New York senator and former first lady expands her lead for the Democratic nomination, her two closest rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards, see an opportunity to erode her support among anti-war activists. | 10/12/07 17:40:00 By - Margaret Talev
Iran reopens border with Kurdistan as standoff with U.S. continues
Iran opened its border with the Kurdistan region of Iraq again Monday after closing it for two weeks in retaliation for the U.S. military's arrest of an Iranian man in a Kurdistan hotel. | 10/08/07 18:39:00 By - Jay Price and Yaseen Taha
Officials: Iranian nuclear dispute far from resolved
The dispute over Iran's nuclear program is far from over, despite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assertion before the U.N. General Assembly that his government considers the issue "closed." | 09/26/07 20:04:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
U.S. calls meeting to prepare new sanctions against Iran
After 18 years of concealing a nuclear program from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and four years of fruitless talks with the international community, Iran has pledged to come clean with facts to back up its claim that it isn't seeking to build a nuclear weapon. | 09/20/07 17:45:00 By - Matthew Schofield
U.S. ramps up pressure on Iran
One year after the United States launched an intensified global economic campaign against Iran with the stated aim of halting Tehran's nuclear work, the Bush administration is counting its successes — and calling for still more pressure. | 09/19/07 06:00:00 By - Warren P. Strobel
White House seeks tougher Iran sanctions
Leading European nations stopped short of endorsing a United Nations plan to ease tensions over Iran's nuclear program, and the United States called a six-nation meeting next week to discuss imposing tougher U.N. sanctions on Iran's government. | 09/12/07 20:15:00 By - Matthew Schofield and Warren P. Strobel
Iraq protests Iranian attacks in Kurdish region
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari demanded Thursday that Iran stop firing artillery and mortars at Kurdish villages in northern Iraq and warned that more attacks could damage relations between the countries. | 08/30/07 17:56:00 By - Leila Fadel and Yasseen Taha
Has Iran paused its uranium enrichment program?
Iran appears not to have significantly expanded its uranium enrichment program this summer, a development that has many experts wondering whether the threat of sanctions finally has had an impact on the Iranian government. | 08/25/07 14:24:00 By - Matthew Schofield
Iranians attack Kurdish rebels in Iraq
Iranian soldiers crossed into Iraq on Thursday and attacked several small villages in the northeastern Kurdish region, local officials said. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said he couldn't confirm the attacks, but five Kurdish officials said that troops had infiltrated Iraqi territory and fired on villages. | 08/23/07 18:30:00 By - Chris Collins and Yaseen Taha
U.S. says Iranians train Iraqi insurgents
For the first time, the U.S. military said on Sunday that Iranian soldiers are in Iraq training insurgents to attack American forces. | 08/19/07 15:41:00 By - Chris Collins
U.S. actions against Iran raise war risk, many fear
As President Bush escalates the United States' confrontation with Iran across a broad front, U.S. allies in Europe and the Middle East are growing worried that the steps will achieve little, but will undercut diplomacy and increase the chances of war. | 08/17/07 16:45:00 By - Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef
Bush, Congress could collide on Iran
Two knowledgeable U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because intelligence on Iran is highly classified, said that the administration so far doesn't have "smoking-gun" evidence that could be used publicly to justify an air attack. | 08/10/07 20:04:00 By - Matt Stearns
Cheney urging strikes on Iran
A debate has accompanied a growing drumbeat of allegations about Iranian meddling in Iraq from U.S. military officers, administration officials and administration allies outside government and in the news media. It isn't clear whether the media campaign is intended to build support for limited military action against Iran, to pressure the Iranians to curb their support for Shiite groups in Iraq or both. | 08/09/07 19:10:00 By - Warren P. Strobel, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef
U.S. rotates carrier to Persian Gulf amid rising Iran tensions
The U.S. Navy said Tuesday that it was sending the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf in order to maintain two carriers in the region amid growing tensions with Iran over its alleged support of Iraqi insurgents. | 07/10/07 18:50:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef
Iranian arms to Taliban may be retaliation for U.S. policy
As NATO troops in Afghanistan have begun intercepting sophisticated Iranian arms bound for the Taliban, U.S., NATO and Afghan officials are growing more concerned about Iranian policy in Afghanistan. Its long been conventional wisdom that Irans Shiite Muslim rulers would do nothing to destabilize Afghan President Hamid Karzais shaky government or aid the Taliban, Sunni Muslim militants against whom Iran nearly went to war with in 1998. The Taliban obtains the lions share of its weapons and other aid from the proceeds of opium trafficking and from Sunni supporters in Pakistan and Arab nations. | 05/29/07 03:00:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Tensions growing between U.S., Iran
As the United States and Iran prepare to hold talks on stabilizing Iraq, tensions between Tehran and Washington are ratcheting up again. The U.S. Navy on Wednesday began its largest war games off the Iranian coast since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, with two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers leading a flotilla of nine ships, dozens of combat aircraft and more than 2,100 Marines. As the air and sea exercises commenced, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reported that Iran is expanding its nuclear program which U.S. officials charge is aimed at developing nuclear weapons in defiance of U.N. Security Council demands that it suspend uranium enrichment. Iran also has stepped up arms shipments to insurgents battling American troops and the U.S.-backed governments in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. For the first time, Iran has begun supplying the Taliban in Afghanistan with explosively formed projectile bombs, which have been used to destroy U.S. armored vehicles in Iraq, the officials said. | 05/23/07 03:00:00 By - Jonathan S. Landay
Speculation rages: is Iran Bush's next target?
President Bush says he isnt looking for a fight, but the question wont go away: Is the United States headed for war with Irans Islamic rulers? Increasing tensions with Iran over its nuclear program and actions in Iraq have fueled speculation that Bush may be paving the way for military action. With U.S. forces tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan, no one expects a ground invasion, but analysts at both ends of the political spectrum put little stock in Bushs insistence that hes focused only on diplomacy. | 02/22/07 03:00:00 By - Ron Hutcheson and Warren P. Strobel
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