Iran

As many as four countries may refuse to support an expected United Nations resolution imposing new sanctions against Iran, threatening a setback for Western efforts to show a unified international effort, according to foreign diplomats close to the issue. China's dislike for sanctions is well known. But in addition, U.N. Security Council members Brazil, Turkey and Lebanon have signaled that they may abstain from a vote this year on new punitive measures, diplomats say. The sanctions, which would be the fourth round since 2006, are aimed at pressuring Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Iran has dramatically shifted its public tone toward the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, dropping its previous deference while harshly criticizing the agency's latest report and its new director-general as an incompetent and biased lackey of the West. On Sunday, Iran's supreme leader and highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, lashed out at the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran's nuclear program and adherence to the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, in a move that could signal a further deterioration of cooperation between the agency and the Islamic Republic.

The Middle East has no shortage of conflicts to worry the rest of the world: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians. And now, add an old trouble spot to that list: Lebanon. On the one hand, Lebanon's economy grew by a dizzying 9% last year, the strongest pace of any country in the region. Its feuding religious and political factions have joined in a power-sharing agreement that seems stable. And it's even selling itself, with some success, as a chic destination for European and American tourists.

Three men, including an Iranian-born chemical engineer living in Glendale, have been charged in an alleged scheme to smuggle sophisticated industrial components into Iran that could be used in the development of a nuclear weapon, authorities said Wednesday. The case, which comes as the U.S. is rallying allies to block Iran's nuclear ambitions, has drawn interest at the highest levels of government, an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Times. Authorities allege the men were attempting to smuggle high-grade vacuum pumps and other items into Iran in violation of federal trade laws regulating the export of some technology to unfriendly nations and U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Whispering like conspirators, the two cousins hook their thumbs in their belt loops, skim cocky eyes over the women and swivel, stiff-legged from their hips, like the men they have become. Across the room, and a few steps away on the gender spectrum, a man with shaggy hair wrinkles a pug nose in the mirror and struggles to drape a silky scarf over his head in the style of Islamic womanhood.

Reporting from Bogota, Colombia Borzou Daragahi, and Beirut -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives today in Brazil on a Latin American and African tour amid U.S. and domestic criticism that, by playing host, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is squandering his newfound global influence. The first visit to Brazil by an Iranian head of state has generated two protests in the last week in which thousands of demonstrators, many of them Jews alarmed by Ahmadinejad's views on the Holocaust and on Israel, took to the streets and beaches of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

In late December, I received a New Year's e-mail from a former Iranian diplomat. The contact surprised me. I had known the man when I lived in Tehran from 2004 to '07, but I hadn't heard from him in more than two years. In 2007, as the Ahmadinejad administration began tarring its ideological enemies as foreign stooges, he cut relations with me. I hadn't become less of a liability in the interim. In 2009, during the postelection unrest, I was arrested at Tehran's airport as I was boarding a flight and transferred to Evin Prison.

Iran has quietly detained and expelled to Saudi Arabia 16 Al Qaeda fighters who sought refuge in the country after fleeing Afghanistan, the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al Faisal, said Saturday. Iranian authorities handed over the Al Qaeda fugitives, all Saudis, knowing that whatever intelligence was obtained from them during interrogation in Saudi Arabia would be passed on to the U.S. for use in the war on terrorism, Saud said.

They awoke from the nightmare to find things were the same in the light of day. Their 17-year-old son, Aydin, was dead. Three hours after leaving home to attend a party, the student leader respected throughout his high school had flat-lined in the back of an ambulance. Hamid Salek and Azita Rezvan discussed returning to Iran. America had been Aydin's dream; South Pasadena, his kingdom. Perhaps putting an ocean between themselves and the place that held too many memories of their only child would ease the ache.

A federal crackdown on the illegal sale of F-14 fighter jet parts to Iran led to the seizure of four privately owned military aircraft in San Bernardino County this week, after one jet owner surfaced in a sting operation to thwart the sale of an F-14 cockpit canopy, authorities said. As military technicians dismantled the fighters Wednesday at airports in Chino and Victorville, federal officials said the investigation was continuing and no criminal charges had yet been filed.

The Middle East has no shortage of conflicts to worry the rest of the world: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians. And now, add an old trouble spot to that list: Lebanon. On the one hand, Lebanon's economy grew by a dizzying 9% last year, the strongest pace of any country in the region. Its feuding religious and political factions have joined in a power-sharing agreement that seems stable. And it's even selling itself, with some success, as a chic destination for European and American tourists.

This is what it's like to be a reporter in today's Iran: To cover the recent anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, you had to wear a bright yellow bib identifying you as a journalist and sit in a designated area where you could hear and see President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speak, but not the thousands of protesters nearby. But this is also what it's like to be a reporter in today's Iran: You see ordinary people on the bus on the way to work and shopping for groceries in the market.

Iran has dramatically shifted its public tone toward the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, dropping its previous deference while harshly criticizing the agency's latest report and its new director-general as an incompetent and biased lackey of the West. On Sunday, Iran's supreme leader and highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, lashed out at the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors Iran's nuclear program and adherence to the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, in a move that could signal a further deterioration of cooperation between the agency and the Islamic Republic.

As many as four countries may refuse to support an expected United Nations resolution imposing new sanctions against Iran, threatening a setback for Western efforts to show a unified international effort, according to foreign diplomats close to the issue. China's dislike for sanctions is well known. But in addition, U.N. Security Council members Brazil, Turkey and Lebanon have signaled that they may abstain from a vote this year on new punitive measures, diplomats say. The sanctions, which would be the fourth round since 2006, are aimed at pressuring Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog for the first time Thursday explicitly voiced concern that Iran is trying to make a nuclear bomb, amid signs of fraying relations between the agency's inspectors and authorities in the Islamic Republic. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran last week produced its first batch of 20% enriched uranium, based on scientific data it was given by Iranian officials who plan to use the more highly purified nuclear fuel at a Tehran medical reactor.

During a visit to the Tehran military courthouse one day last fall, Hossein and Hamid spotted the doctor. Memories from their five days at Kahrizak prison came flooding back. Prisoners seeking help were handed a few aspirin and told to go away. When they asked for bandages, the doctor struck some lightly with a club. One inmate had been beaten so badly on his feet that his toes were swollen and infected and he couldn't walk properly. He arranged for an appointment with the doctor, who told him, "Get lost before I beat you up," according to Hossein, who said he didn't even bother asking for help for his own injuries.

A huge crowd of government supporters filled Tehran's Azadi Square on Thursday to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, overshadowing the smaller groups of nearby anti-government protesters confronted by plainclothes and uniformed security forces. Despite weeks of calls to action, the opposition movement failed to derail the holiday's agenda set by supporters of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The president delivered a defiant keynote speech hailing the government's recent move to begin producing uranium at 20% purity and condemning the West.

Two California gubernatorial candidates are pushing insurers and the state's two major pension funds to sell more than $6 billion worth of holdings in companies doing business in Iran. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is expected Wednesday to ask hundreds of state-licensed insurance companies to pull money out of 50 foreign-owned corporations he said are involved in Iran's nuclear, military and energy sectors. On Monday, Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown called on the nation's two largest public pension funds, the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, to "honor the state law" requiring them to divest from companies involved with Iran.

The defendant met with his lawyer once for 15 minutes before he was sentenced to death and hanged. When the lawyer complained to authorities, they ignored her. When she tried to enter the courtroom where he was being tried, they threatened her with arrest. And when she spoke out publicly at what she described as a gross miscarriage of justice, they shut off her cellphone. "Unfortunately, despite repeated warnings, you have kept contacts with counter-revolutionary media and for two months from today your cellphone will be cut off," read a text message she received.

In a move possibly meant to deflect attention from his domestic political woes, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday ordered the nation's atomic energy agency to begin enriching uranium to a higher level of purity to serve as fuel for a Tehran medical reactor. The command to enrich uranium from 3.5% to 20% purity comes amid Iran's diplomatic impasse with the United States and its allies over a proposal to exchange nuclear fuel that the international community hopes would slow the development of Tehran's nuclear capabilities.