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World opposes Iranian nukes
Egypt, Turkey back sanctions
NEW YORK -- Opposition to Iran obtaining nuclear weapons is widespread around the world, including in neighbouring countries Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, and support for tough economic sanctions is high, according to a poll released Friday.
Support for military intervention to prevent Iran from going nuclear is more divided, the Pew Global Attitudes survey of 21 nations found. Among the countries polled, support was highest in the United States, at 63 per cent, and lowest in Russia, at 24 per cent, while at least 50 per cent of the people surveyed in Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic favoured military action.
Greece and Turkey are the only NATO members where a majority of people surveyed either did not support military intervention or had no opinion, though majorities in both countries oppose allowing the Islamic republic to obtain nuclear weapons.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed solely at producing nuclear energy. The U.S. and Israel suspect Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, but differences have emerged over how to persuade Tehran to curb its program.
The poll comes ahead of International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano's visit to Tehran over the weekend to sign a deal meant to allow the UN agency to resume a long-stalled search for evidence Iran worked on developing nuclear arms.
An IAEA statement about the Sunday trip said only that Amano would "discuss issues of mutual interest with high Iranian officials" during his one-day visit. But diplomats said it was scheduled to allow both sides to agree on an accord outlining the mechanics of IAEA access to sites, information and officials for its investigation into whether Iran secretly conducted nuclear weapons research and development. The diplomats demanded anonymity because their information was confidential.
Amano's trip comes four days ahead of a key meeting of six world powers and Iran, where the six hope to wrest concessions from Tehran meant to ease concerns that it wants nuclear arms.
The Pew poll found Iran's actions in recent years have damaged its standing in the neighbouring Sunni-majority countries of Egypt and Jordan, where favourability ratings are low, support for military intervention reached 50 per cent and approval of strengthening economic sanctions is high.
In Turkey, a major trade partner of Iran, a majority opposes toughening sanctions.
Pakistan had the highest support for Iran's nuclear ambitions, at 50 per cent. The poll found the Shiite minority in Lebanon overwhelmingly supports Iran's nuclear program -- 73 per cent -- though a strong majority of the religiously divided population opposes it. Iran is a majority Shiite country.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received highly negative ratings in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon, though nearly half of Pakistanis viewed him favourably.
Four rounds of UN sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment, a process that has civilian uses but is also key to bomb-making. But recent U.S. and European measures, including an oil embargo and financial and banking sanctions, have bludgeoned Iran's economy.
The survey of 26,210 people was conducted between March 17 and April 20 and has a margin of sampling error that ranged between plus or minus 3.2 and plus or minus 5.2 percentage points, depending on the country.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 19, 2012 A32
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