Top U.S. officials say the underground nuclear facility that Iran revealed last week is illegal and likely intended for military purposes. "I think that certainly the intelligence people have no doubt that ... this is an illicit nuclear facility, if only ... because the Iranians kept it a secret," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "If they wanted it for peaceful nuclear purposes, there's no reason to put it so ...

Iran tested a missile-launching system and two types of missiles Sunday, the state-run Press TV said without offering details. Earlier, the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had said it would stage missile exercises beginning Sunday to promote the armed forces' defense capabilities. The tests, which are expected to go on for the next 10 to 11 days, are codenamed "Payghambar-e Azam 4" or "The Great Messenger 4," Press TV said. The station said the missiles fired Sunday were of the ...

Tehran's new uranium enrichment plant will be operational soon, and "will blind the eyes of the enemies," Iran's semi-official news agency Fars reported Saturday, quoting a senior Iranian official. Also Saturday, the head of Iran's atomic energy program said U.N. nuclear experts would be allowed to inspect the plant, according to a report from Iran-funded Press TV. Ali Akbar Salehi, the atomic energy chief, said a date would be arranged for such an inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency, ...

Talks with Iran on its nuclear program might be more urgent after the Islamic republic's revelations of a second nuclear facility but trust will be an impediment, former President Bill Clinton said Friday. The terms of the negotiations will make or break the talks, Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. Now that Iran knows its nuclear facilities have been discovered, discussions might be worthwhile, Clinton said. Clinton compared it to past negotiations with Iraq. "It's just like ...

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday accused Israel of blocking steps toward peace, just a day after Israel's prime minister defended a military offensive in Gaza. Delivering an address to the U.N. General Assembly, Abbas also said President Obama has given the Palestinian people "much hope." Citing efforts by the United States and other nations to bring peace to the region, Abbas said, "all of these active efforts and initiatives, which have been welcomed and supported by us and ...

A day after the Libyan and Iranian leaders lit up the U.N. General Assembly floor with sharp critiques, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fiery speaker in his own right, is next up on the world stage. Chavez, one of a long line of world leaders scheduled to address the assembly Thursday, is scheduled to be the first speaker in the assembly's afternoon session. The leftist and populist Venezuelan leader -- whose friendship with the Iranian regime and Cuba has spurred ...

Family members of one of the three hikers detained in Iran are heartened and hopeful over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's willingness to ask jurists to handle the case in a timely manner and weigh "maximum leniency" for their release. "We are encouraged by the recent statements of the president that he wants to deal with this matter expeditiously," said Alex Fattal, brother of hiker Josh Fattal. Alex Fattal, who spoke to CNN's "American Morning" on Wednesday with his mother Laura ...

President Obama will host meetings Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the White House announced Saturday. The meetings come as hopes for renewed Israeli-Palestinian talks have dimmed despite diplomatic efforts of former Maine Sen. George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy for the Middle East, who capped off last week's visit to the region with a second round of talks with both sides. Next week's meetings are "another sign of the president's deep commitment to ...

Large crowds gathered in the Iranian capital Friday to march in an annual pro-Palestinian rally, among them thousands of green-clad supporters of the opposition movement, according to CNN sources in Tehran. The Quds (Jerusalem) Day rally, in support of the Palestinian people, is observed on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. This year, the rallies were particularly tense, following the unrest over Iran's disputed presidential elections in June. Opposition supporters near Tehran's ...

Iranian authorities raided and shut down the offices of opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi, an Iranian news agency reported Tuesday, one day after another prominent reformer's office was raided. Brandishing a court order, representatives of the prosecutor entered the building in the Tehran neighborhood of Jamshidieh at 3 p.m., a spokesman for Karrubi's party said, according to the Iranian Labor News Agency. The spokesman, Ismail Gerami Moghaddam of the Etemadeh Melli (National Trust) Party, said the office was searched and documents, ...