Word: tehran
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...convinced was one friend that Barack Obama wouldn't win the U.S. election that she offered to wager money with anyone in the small crowd gathered around the TV at an election party in North Tehran on Tuesday. Despite Obama's clear lead in the polls, the woman was unconvinced. "How much do you want to bet?" she demanded. There were no takers willing to bet against some surprise turn of events that would deny Obama his expected victory. "Just like our Guardian Council handpicks the candidates [in Iran's elections], their Supreme Court chose Bush in 2000," another friend...
...Some American officials see the hand of Iran at work in the deadlock: U.S. commander General Ray Odierno last Sunday suggested that Tehran had tried to bribe Iraqi leaders in order to deal a setback to the U.S. - charges the Iraqis angrily reject. Iran certainly opposes any agreement extending the U.S. military presence on its doorstep, and the dominant political parties in the U.S.-backed government are, in fact, the Iraqi factions closest to Iran. More important, however, may be the fact that the U.S. invasion has led to Iraq being turned into a democracy, where the will...
...Security Council voted to reaffirm existing sanctions in response to Iran's continued defiance of the demand that it suspend uranium enrichment. Iran has long made clear it has no intention of heeding that demand, and the sanctions that back it are having no discernible effect on Tehran's position. But Russia and China will ensure that the Security Council does not substantially escalate its sanctions. Still, the Bush Administration has precious few diplomatic alternatives but to the U.N. process and the milquetoast sanctions in produces as a result of the substantially different views of its key members...
...Part of the reason for the current standoff, says Hourcade, is that in order to keep the capacity to build nuclear weapons out of Iran's hands, the West is offering Tehran incentives to forego certain activities - such as uranium enrichment - that it is legally allowed to pursue under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. "The flaw with the carrot and stick approach is that Iran's leaders - backed by wide consensus in Iranian society - view as a sovereign right the development of a civil nuclear program as they see fit, meaning any carrots designed as a swap for that are regarded...
...urged expanding direct contacts between the two nations, and the Bush Administration last July sent U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs William Burns sat down with diplomats from Iran and Europe to discuss the nuclear stand-off. Regardless of campaign-trail rhetoric, the need to talk directly to Tehran is fast becoming bipartisan conventional wisdom in the U.S. foreign policy establishment...