Iran

The two “bad options” for Iran — letting the country develop nuclear weapons or using force to destroy its nuclear capabilities — are closer than they were a year ago, Israel’s U.N. ambassador warned Tuesday.

The two “bad options” for Iran — letting the country develop nuclear weapons or using force to destroy its nuclear capabilities — are closer than they were a year ago, Israel’s U.N. ambassador warned Tuesday.

Israel’s UN ambassador on Tuesday said prospects for crippling UN sanctions against Iran were “grim” because Russia and China want to use diplomacy to convince Iran to scale back its nuclear ambitions.

Powerful pro-Israel US lobby group AIPAC, in a rare letter to every member of the US Congress, called Tuesday for “crippling new sanctions on Iran” over Tehran’s suspect nuclear program.

The outlook for imposing tough new U.N. sanctions on Iran is increasingly grim, as Russia and China work to slow down a U.S. and European drive for swift action, Israel’s U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.

A traditional Islamic concept about protecting the faith and its followers has become a judicial weapon for Iran’s rulers: charging opponents as so-called enemies of God with the threat of possible death sentences.

Brazil’s president warned Tuesday that U.S.-proposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program could lead to war, and said he will make his own efforts to head off further conflicts — an example he said shows his country’s growing global prominence.

The US State Department on Tuesday reiterated its call for Iran to help locate Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing on an island in the Gulf three years ago.

The trial in Iran opened Tuesday for 12 suspects accused of torturing to death three anti-government protesters tortured in prison during the turmoil following the June elections, the official news agency reported.

Iran said on Tuesday it can deter attacks over its nuclear drive, as China and Turkey raised doubts about sanctions and the United States reassured Israel of its will to stop Tehran getting atomic arms.