Arms Control

Vice President Dick Cheney charged in an interview released Tuesday that Iran is trying to develop weapons-grade uranium, though international inspectors and U.S. intelligence services have not found evidence of such an effort.

Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr on Saturday rejected Iraqi government orders for his supporters to disarm, and a round-the-clock curfew in the capital was extended indefinitely as the bloody standoff between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. forces showed no signs of abating. Militiamen on rooftops battled Iraqi soldiers and U.S. special forces in the southern city of Basra, where at least 22 "criminal fighters" were killed Saturday, the U.S. military said.

ONE OF THE least noticed and most peculiar campaign promises made by Barack Obama is his pledge, if elected president, to "secure all loose nuclear materials in the world within four years." Without doubt that is a laudable goal, but one is left wondering how exactly he expects to accomplish it in four years, or even, for that matter, in 40.

President Bush on Wednesday reiterated the possibility of a military strike to thwart Iran's presumed nuclear weapons ambitions, though he also repeated that he favored a diplomatic solution. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bush's host in two days of meetings at a baroque castle, made clear her views: "I very clearly pin my hopes on diplomatic efforts."

A European proposal to ease the West's nuclear standoff with Iran includes an offer for talks with the Iranians as long as they do not expand their current ability to enrich uranium, Western diplomats say. Iran has not formally responded to the proposal made last week, nicknamed "freeze for freeze," which would create a six-week period during which the European Union, Russia, China and the United States would refrain from pushing for additional sanctions against Iran.

A confidant of Iran's top political and religious authority took a veiled swipe at the country's outspoken president in a sign of strain within the leadership over handling international opposition to the Iranian nuclear program.

A State Department envoy assigned to reduce the worldwide supply of shoulder-fired missiles said Tuesday that missiles traded on the black market remain a potential threat to civilian aircraft. In his first public comments since beginning the effort six months ago, Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr. said that there is a total of about 500,000 missiles of the type that have been used to shoot down 28 civilian planes since the 1970s, killing 600 to 800 people. Even though the U.S.

Bush administration officials reassured Israel's defense minister this week that the United States has not abandoned all possibility of a military attack on Iran, despite widespread Israeli concern that Washington has begun softening its position toward Tehran. In meetings Monday and Tuesday, administration officials told Defense Minister Ehud Barak that the option of attacking Iran over its nuclear program remains on the table, though U.S. officials are primarily seeking a diplomatic solution.

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency provided a crucial boost Friday to prospects for a nuclear deal between the United States and India, dramatically improving the Bush administration's odds for a landmark foreign policy success in its final months in office. The International Atomic Energy Agency approved a key inspection agreement that enables it to oversee and safeguard India's civilian nuclear facilities. The agreement amounted to a show of international support for the U.S.

Iran delivered a letter to world powers Tuesday but gave no concrete reply to a demand that it freeze its nuclear activity, a defiant step that the United States has warned could lead to more sanctions. The letter was in response to a June offer by six nations to forgo seeking more U.N. penalties if Iran froze expansion of its nuclear work.