Tehran

The muted communication from a spokesperson for the Navy's Fifth Fleet that it won't tolerate an Iranian attempt to close to Strait of Hormuz and shut off much of the world's oil supply is not an adequate response to the threat. It comes off as another sign of an apathetic, apologetic U.S. foreign policy ("Iran warns U.S. over Strait of Hormuz," Dec. 29). Why does it always seem that President Obama is out of town when we need him? We see him getting ice cream with his family, which is very touching.

After a yearlong round of escalating international economic sanctions and rhetoric, the regime in Iran has finally come around to raising expectations that it will take some constructive steps in reining in its nuclear weapons ambitions. But this cycle of threat and accommodation has played out before, and its outcome should have been predictable. According to the information provided by Iranian dissidents obtained from their sources inside the regime, as well as the U.N.'s atomic watchdog agency, the nuclear genie is out of the bottle in Iran, and the regime's genius for delay and subterfuge will only give it the time to complete the dash to a workable weapon.

TEHRAN, Iran -- The inhabitants of this metropolis of 12 million people and perhaps as many cars, buses, trucks and motorbikes have seen something new on the streets in recent months: the city itself, unobscured by the thick layer of smog that normally blankets the capital. For years, pollution in Tehran seemed only to grow worse, the stench of exhaust more dizzying, the number of patients rushed to hospitals with breathing difficulties ever increasing. But a number of government measures, including rationing gasoline and limiting traffic in the city center, have noticeably changed this bleak landscape - and given back Tehran residents the stunning vistas of the Alborz mountain range that surrounds the city.

Not long ago, an astute reader noted that it has been nearly two years since I wrote in a column that "most experts now estimate that Iran needs about 18 months to complete a nuclear device and a missile to carry it. " His point - that those estimates were way off - was a good one, especially since experts are still estimating that Iran is 18 months away from being able to build a nuclear weapon. So what gives? Why does Iran always seem to be about 18 months away from a nuclear bomb, at least in the eyes of U.S. officials?

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran is considering moving its capital from Tehran after the earthquake last month that devastated the southern city of Bam, killing more than one-third of the population there. Tehran is on a major seismological fault, and experts have long warned that an earthquake here could be catastrophic. Tehran has a population of more than 12 million and is one of the most earthquake-prone regions in the country. The head of the country's Supreme National Security Council, Hassan Rowhani, told Iranian state television that the idea of moving the capital was being studied by the council and that a decision would be reached by the end of March, which is the end of the Iranian calendar year.

TEHRAN -- Atefeh is one of the younger members of Iran's merchant class. Her sales territory is the notorious traffic jams of north Tehran. She moves in on potential clients when the light turns red, pressing her face to car windows, cocking her head to one side and putting on a plaintive face. At 12, she isn't as good at plaintive as some of her younger competitors, two boys who are hawking Quranic inscriptions and balloons just up the street. Sometimes her face looks more furious than sad. But she still can clear 55 cents a day selling her packages of pink-and-red strawberry chewing gum to bored and surly drivers.

THE SUMMIT conference of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Tehran was a triumph for its revolutionary regime, mocking Washington's fantasy of isolating Iran.Egypt's presence gave that U.S. client its closest relations with revolutionary Iran since it granted asylum to the fleeing shah in 1979. The visit of Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia heals relations despite private Saudi accusations of Iranian-sponsored terrorism. Saddam Hussein of Iraq brought an architectural model of what he claims will be the world's largest mosque, to be named for himself, revisiting the country he invaded in 1980.

VIENNA, Austria - Iran threatened yesterday to resume enrichment of uranium - a prerequisite for making nuclear weapons - if the International Atomic Energy Agency passes an expected resolution rebuking it for not cooperating. Iran's president, Mohammad Khatami, said his country no longer had a "moral commitment" to suspend uranium enrichment, though he added that it had not made a decision to restart such work. "If the draft resolution proposed by the European countries is approved by the IAEA, Iran will reject it," Khatami said in Tehran.

TEHRAN, Iran -- In scenes eerily reminiscent of Iran's revolution two decades ago, the police fired tear gas yesterday at thousands of demonstrators and passers-by and fired pistols and submachine guns into the air as street battles raged through the capital.The chaos and violence closed hundreds of stores, banks, gas stations, shopping centers and office buildings and finally, even the vast bazaar in the south of Tehran.The clogged streets were filled with fear and confusion as the worst unrest in the Islamic republic's history was countered by tens of thousands of uniformed and plainclothes security police, soldiers, anti-riot forces in shields and face-covering helmets, Revolutionary Guards, intelligence operatives, vigilantes wielding long green batons and ordinary street thugs.

TEHRAN, Iran - A student demonstration in support of a popular reformist professor who has been sentenced to die for blaspheming Islam turned bloody yesterday when extremists supporting Iran's theocracy clashed with the students at Tehran's Sharif University. One student speaker suffered a cracked skull and cuts and was carried off by friends during the attack by roughly 500 members of the hard-line militia group Ansareh Hezbollah, or Friends of the Party of God, witnesses said. A number of other students also were injured.

We should expect a horrific human toll from any exchange of hostilities between Iran and Israel ("Nuclear saber-rattling," Jan. 6). Steps toward avoiding that, such as your editorial call for an intricate U.S.-Tehran agreement, are morally well-intentioned. But it wouldn't disturb our rest if these were Buddhist monks developing nuclear power for Nepal. Why not? Because common sense says their benign intentions are trustworthy and they respect human life. The Tehran mullahs have rebuffed (to say the least)

The threat of an Israeli strike against Iran'snuclear facilities ratcheted up a notch last week when Israel'sdefense minister, Ehud Barak, issued new warnings that time was running out to stop Tehran's drive to build a bomb. If Israel waits much longer, Mr. Barak told a security conference in Jerusalem, it would no longer have the option of destroying the Iranian weapons program before it disappeared into newly constructed mountain bunkers where it would be invulnerable to attack. Israel's escalating rhetoric is understandable: The nation's leaders have good reason to fear a nuclear-armed Iran would act on its vows to destroy the Jewish state.

The muted communication from a spokesperson for the Navy's Fifth Fleet that it won't tolerate an Iranian attempt to close to Strait of Hormuz and shut off much of the world's oil supply is not an adequate response to the threat. It comes off as another sign of an apathetic, apologetic U.S. foreign policy ("Iran warns U.S. over Strait of Hormuz," Dec. 29). Why does it always seem that President Obama is out of town when we need him? We see him getting ice cream with his family, which is very touching.

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran ... Or as Mitt Romney put it, playing the irresponsible-lunatic game convincingly enough to become the leading Republican presidential candidate: "If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. " The consensus congeals: Our next war must be with Iran. A report issued by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, which The New York Times called "chillingly comprehensive" (though this is debatable), stoked this long-simmering agenda.

With economies around the world teetering, we must solve our security threats with an eye not only on reducing danger but also on how our actions affect job creation and retention. This applies especially to Iran. A war with Tehran - or an Iran with nuclear weapons - would exacerbate Middle East turmoil and threaten oil routes. This would be far more costly than stronger sanctions today. Here are five steps vis-à-vis Iran that can enhance America's (and the world's) security without jeopardizing our financial health: •Isolate Iran diplomatically.

Do you feel another war coming our way? Say, with Iran? This week's announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder of the foiling of an alleged plot to blow up the Saudi ambassador to the United States while he dined in a Washington restaurant has been seized upon by the usual media suspects as an "Iranian terrorist plot" and more than enough reason to further tighten the screws on Tehran. A 56-year-old American citizen, Manssor Arbabsiar, who also holds an Iranian passport, was arrested and charged along with another man, still living in Iran, who is said to be a member of the Quds force, an "elite" unit of the Iranian army reportedly tasked with "exporting Iran's Islamic revolution.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iranian officials called U.S. accusations that it is arming Shiite militias in Iraq with tank-piercing explosives "unfounded" yesterday, and insisted that Iran is committed to joining a regional effort to halt the tightening spiral of violence. But the back-and-forth charges between Tehran and Washington highlight a growing recognition of Iran's substantial influence on its next-door neighbor and its ability, if nothing else, to prevent the U.S. from untangling the political conflicts that have plunged Iraq into mounting sectarian warfare.

UNITED NATIONS - Iran's senior diplomat said yesterday that Tehran is seriously considering a new offer from six world powers to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program. He called the offer "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. The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Iran suspend the enrichment of uranium that can be used for nuclear weapons, and the Bush administration has refused direct talks with Iran until it meets that condition.

The bizarre plot federal law enforcement officials described Tuesday in which elements of the Iranian government are accused of trying to blow up Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S. with explosives planted in a Washington restaurant sounds like something out of a spy novel. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III acknowledged as much at the news conference announcing the arrest of one of the alleged conspirators. Yet if true, the charges represent an unprecedented and intolerable provocation by a regime long known for exporting terrorism, and they demand the strongest possible response - short of direct military action - from the U.S. and the international community.

Food, spies, money, politics, education and war are on the agenda for the sixth season of the Baltimore Speakers Series, which returns in October at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Among the eight luminaries who will be speaking in the series sponsored by Stevenson University are former Washington schools superintendent Michelle Rhee, former CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, and sustainable food champion Michael Pollan. In addition, former U.S. military commander in Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal will speak, as will Azar Nafisi, author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran," and Ron Chernow, biographer of business titans J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller.