Despite a deep weariness with the war in Afghanistan, pluralities in Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain, Poland and the Czech Republic would support military action against Iran, the poll found. In Germany, where there has been strong public pressure for an end to the Afghan war, 50% of respondents favor military action to halt Iran’s nuclear program, with 41% opposed. Majorities in the Middle Eastern nations of Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon also supported military action. In that region, the poll found a religious split, with 74% of Shiite Muslims interviewed supporting Iran’s suspected ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons, but 94% of Sunnis opposed. Iran is ruled by Shiite clerics.

Some Iranians in Tbilisi say Georgia attracts them for its relaxed culture and the ease with which business can be done. "This is Europe," said one Iranian man, who came to Tbilisi on a business trip. "Things are easy to do, and it feels very open."

Anxious to feed an economy growing at about 6.5 per cent this year, and reliant on imports for 80 per cent of its energy needs, India insists it can’t afford to cut back much more than it already has. Its oil imports from Iran date back to the era of the Shah, and many major Indian refineries are outfitted specifically to process Iranian sweet, light crude; it is no small task to retrofit them..............India’s main oil supplier is Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis have offered to bump up sales to India to cover a drop in supply from Iran – the S...
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The inflation rate in Iran for the 12-month period ended to April 19 hit 21.8 percent, up 0.3 percent compared to the same period ended to March 19, the Mehr News Agency quoted the Central Bank as reporting.

A senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA probe says Iran has never said whether the chamber existed. A computer-generated drawing provided to The Associated Press by a nation critical of Iran's nuclear program shows such a structure. The official who shared it said the drawing was based on information from someone who saw the chamber.

The State Department, according to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, is poised to do something that could increase the chances of war with Iran....................The good news is that the final decision may not be imminent and could be months off--and will probably be made by Hillary Clinton. And surely she knows that if she caves in to the political pressure being mustered on behalf of MEK, she'll be guaranteeing herself a place in the diplomats' hall of shame.

RAND Corporation sides with Mossad chief Meir Dagan and former Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin, openly disagreeing with Netanyahu and Barak's belligerent stance on Iran.

He said he has been unemployed for the past year, doing odd jobs and that he barely makes enough to feed himself, let alone his wife and children. The lack of jobs and the extraordinary rise in food prices have hamstrung him. But he was most worried about what the crippled economy is doing to the youth of Iran, who he said are turning to crime and drugs if they can’t find work.

This much can be seen in the surprise three-day Tehran visit by Michel Rocard, a former French prime minister, less than two weeks after the stunning presidential victory of his socialist colleague, Francios Hollande, who will introduce his cabinet on Wednesday. Although dubbed as a "private visit", Rocard's high-profile meeting with top Iranian officials and lawmakers has clearly unnerved the United States and Israel, which worry that Paris may no longer toe Washington's line on Iran, as it did for five consecutive years under the right-wing Nicolas Sarkozy...........The Western military assumption - that they can go about beefing up their nuclear arsenal and capabilities and, worse, rely on them for foreign policy purposes, while at the same time holding up the banner of anti-proliferation and demanding other nations to simply...
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Tuesday's report said Fashi had travelled abroad on several occasions to receive training from Mossad before returning to Iran to plot the assassination.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives is slated to vote on a resolution designed to tie the president's hands on Iran policy. The resolution, which is coming up under an expedited House procedure, was the centerpiece of AIPAC's recent conference. In fact, 13,000 AIPAC delegates were dispatched to Capitol Hill, on the last day of the conference, with instructions to tell the senators and representatives whom they met that supporting this resolution was #1 on AIPAC's election year agenda. Accordingly, it is not particularly surprising that the resolution is being rushed to the House floor for a vote, nor that it is expected to pass with very little opposition. Those voting "no" on this one will pay a price in campaign contributions (the ones they won't receive)...
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The Institute for Science and International Security says a new report on Iran’s nuclear activities by the dissident National Resistance Council of Iran, a branch of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, should be regarded with skepticism