NEWS FLASH

Former Iranian Interior Minister: Put Nuclear Issue To A Referendum | A former Iranian interior minister from the government of President Mohammad Khatami suggested in a talk to a group of student activists that Iran put the nuclear issue to a referendum, according to a report in BBC’s Persian service. According to an online translation, Abdollah Nuri told the students that “a decision must be based on general consent” — a contention he supported with the Islamic Republic’s constitution. Though Iran’s nuclear program has in the past gotten widespread public support, according to unreliable polling, respondents to a recent online survey on Iran’s state-run news site overwhelming supported nuclear concessions in order to strike a deal with the West (until the poll was taken down).