Islamic Republic of Iran

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's failure to win Russian support for tougher talk on Iran exposed a divide between the two powers on how best to push Iran into accepting limits on its nuclear ambitions.

The setback does not doom the Obama administration's hopes for diplomatic progress this year on Iran. Nor does it nix another high-priority administration goal: reversing a recent slump in relations with Moscow.

But it muddies the outlook for persuading Iran that painful penalties loom if the regime fails to satisfy U.S. and international concerns that its nuclear program is aimed at building atomic weapons.

On her visit to Moscow this week – her first since becoming secretary of state – Clinton had hoped for a public signal that Russia would consider new sanctions if Iran refused to come clean about its nuclear intentions. Just last month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had raised American hopes by saying that while sanctions are rarely productive "in some cases they are inevitable."

U.S. officials hailed his statement as a shift in tone, but on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov seemed to backtrack by saying his government believes that threatening to impose further sanctions is counterproductive as long as diplomacy has a chance to succeed.

WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday sent a message to Iran that pursuit of nuclear capability will not go unpunished, approving legislation that allows state and local governments to curtail investments in international corporations doing business in Iran's energy sector.

The legislation also protects from shareholder lawsuits those investment managers who divest funds from companies that are involved in Iran's energy sector or have provided equipment for the transport of oil or liquefied natural gas from Iran.

The bill passed the House 414-6 and now goes to the Senate.

The bill does not impose new sanctions, said its author, Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.

"What it does is to make it very clear that Americans who are deeply concerned about the prospect of Iranian nuclear power, and other aspects of Iranian governance, that they are able to act on those (concerns)," he said.

BEIJING — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticized talk of sanctions against Iran on Wednesday, undermining U.S. efforts to present a united front against Tehran's nuclear program at a crucial moment.

Putin's comments in China came a day after Russia's foreign minister, at Hillary Rodham Clinton's side in Moscow, said threatening sanctions was "counterproductive."

Russia's growing hostility to even discussing sanctions comes shortly after President Barack Obama canceled plans to build a missile defense shield in Europe. That was seen by some as a concession to Russia in hopes of persuading it to put more pressure on Iran to open its nuclear program for inspection.

The U.S. and a number of other countries contend the program is meant to develop nuclear weapons.

"If we speak about some kind of sanctions now, before we take concrete steps, we will fail to create favorable conditions for negotiations," Putin said. "That is why we consider such talk premature."

Please view the original post to see the video. Watch the show from Tuesday, October 13: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels to Russia to encou...

— An adviser to the sheik of Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, has filed a friend of the court brief defending the suitability of the Persian Gulf port to host next year's America's Cup showdown.

The race is between American syndicate BMW Oracle Racing and defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland.

The CEO of the Ras al-Khaimah Investment Authority, Khater Massaad, filed the amicus curiae brief Tuesday with the New York State Supreme Court.

It is in response to BMW Oracle Racing's motion asking a judge to reject RAK as the port for the best-of-3 series beginning Feb. 8 for the oldest trophy in international sports.

BMW Oracle Racing contends that RAK is unsuitable, in part because of its proximity to Iran.

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GENEVA — The U.S. may hold rare face-to-face negotiations between American and Iranian diplomats at a meeting Thursday on Iran's nuclear program, a senior official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the talks, briefed reporters in Geneva. Such a move would reflect Washington's determination to get results at Thursday's meeting between Iran and six world powers.

In addition to the United States, the countries include members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. The U.S. delegation is headed by William Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, and Iran's chief negotiator is Saeed Jalili.

Even as they prepare for new talks Thursday with Iran on its nuclear program, the U.S. and its allies are contemplating new and tighter sanctions on Tehran, in a clear signal of expectations that the negotiations may again end in failure.

The fact that the meeting is taking place at all offers some hope, reflecting both sides' desire to talk, despite a spike in tensions over last week's revelations by Iran that it had been secretly building a new uranium enrichment plant.

WASHINGTON — Iran's foreign minister is making a rare appearance in Washington after being granted a visa by the State Department to visit the Pakistani embassy, which represents Iranian interests with the U.S. government.

Iran and the U.S. have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1980. No senior Iranian official has visited the U.S. capital in years.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Wednesday the decision to allow the rare visit was made in the last 24 hours, just a day in advance of an important meeting in Geneva between Iran and six world powers seeking to restrict Iran's nuclear program.

Crowley described the Iranian government's request for the visa as a straightforward matter. He said the Iranian minister is not meeting with any U.S. officials during his visit.

— The U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The key points in each:

_ RESOLUTION NO. 1737:

Imposed in December 2006, it banned trade with Iran in materials, equipment, goods and technology that could contribute to Iran's uranium enrichment program.

WASHINGTON — Ever since President Ronald Reagan proposed building a ballistic missile shield in 1983 to prevent a doomsday scenario, the idea has been dogged by an unanswered question: Will it work?

The prime target during the Reagan era was Russian missiles. A scaled-down defensive system recently proposed by the Obama administration would aim to shoot down warheads from Iran, which has heightened concerns by building a clandestine uranium enrichment plant and test firing missiles this week with a range of up to 1,200 miles.

But even as the U.S. prepares to meet on Thursday with Iranian officials in Geneva over the regime's nuclear ambitions, the administration's reliance on missile defense to guard against the unthinkable still amounts to a gamble.

Components of the latest system have shone in controlled test environments, but the new plan relies heavily on radars and ship-based interceptors that haven't endured real battle conditions.

"We're not building all these missile defense systems because we're worried about Iran firing a rocket with TNT on it," said Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's chief of weapons testing from 1994 to 2001. "We're worried about nuclear weapons, and nobody knows whether missile defenses can work with nuclear weapons going off."

BERKELEY, Calif. — Supporters of three American hikers detained in Iran are planning vigils around the country to draw attention to their plight.

The vigils Wednesday are being held two months after Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were detained for illegal entry after straying over the border during a hike in northern Iraq. All three are graduates of the University of California, Berkeley.

Vigils are planned Wednesday evening in multiple locations including Philadelphia, Minnesota, Oregon and Berkeley.

Since the three were arrested, their families have had no contact with them.

On Tuesday, Iran told Swiss diplomats they could meet with the three Americans, something viewed as a conciliatory gesture.

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