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"If Iran is indeed becoming a military dictatorship, this probably qualifies it for American aid and hugs, rather than sanctions and threats," wrote Rami Khouri, editor at large of Beirut's Daily Star. "The United States has adored military dictatorships in the Arab world, especially states dominated by the shadowy world of intelligence services."

TEHRAN -- Ruhollah Solook, a retired electrician living in Santa Monica, Calif., was in a desperate bind. He urgently needed a kidney transplant, as well as a series of radiation therapy diagnoses and treatments. The nuclear medicine was available in the United States, but the kidney was not.

Western nuclear experts said that taking the declaration of the 10-plant goal at face value was akin to believing in the tooth fairy. “They’re hyping it,” said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a private group in Washington that tracks nuclear proliferation. “They couldn’t build that number of centrifuges. They don’t have the infrastructure.” Mr. Albright added that Iran’s supplies of uranium were dwindling, casting more doubt on the vastly expanded commercial fuel goal. The result, he said, is that the new push for enrichment will probably end up producing “one small plant somewhere that they’re not going to tell us about” and be military in nature.

Dr. ElBaradei has long been reluctant to adopt a confrontational strategy with Iran, an approach he considers counterproductive. Responding to calls for the report’s release, he has raised doubts about its completeness and reliability.

TEHRAN, Sept. 30 -- As the United States and its allies consider further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fear that such punishment could have unintended consequences, strengthening the government's hand against domestic dissent and triggering an even harsher crackdown on political foes.

The White House refused Sunday to confirm or deny the contents of Mr. Jones’s discussions. But other administration officials said that they believed his goal was to reinforce Mr. Obama’s argument that the Israeli government should stop dropping hints about conducting a military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities if no progress is made this year, and to give the administration time to impose what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calls “crippling sanctions” that might force Iran to negotiate.

Israel, which sees an existential threat in a nuclear Iran, has made clear that its patience is limited. The Ross team does not think Israelis are bluffing. They believe Israel views Iran in life-and-death terms. Israeli officials have argued that they don’t believe Iran would ever be crazy enough to nuke them but do believe the change in the balance of power with a nuclear or near-nuclear Iran could be so decisive that Jews would begin to leave Israel.

The U.S. military has maintained a presence at the camp since 2003, when the group, an erstwhile ally of Saddam Hussein, agreed to disarm. The MEK was founded in the 1960s by Marxist university students. It morphed into a guerrilla organization that attacked Iranian and U.S. officials in Iran during the 1970s. After the 1979 Islamic revolution, its main purpose was to overthrow the regime. Because its members attacked U.S. citizens in Iran years ago, the State Department labels the group a terrorist organization.

Mrs. Clinton made her statement, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” days after she raised the possibility of an American-created “defense umbrella” over the Middle East to counter Iran’s efforts to build its power in the region by trying to develop weapons capacity. Soon after Mrs. Clinton spoke of the shield on Wednesday, senior members of the Obama administration tried to walk back her comments, saying that she was speaking “personally” and that such an umbrella had always been implied by America’s strong interests in the region, including oil interests.

"It's true," said Ghaith Shubar, a cleric who runs a foundation in Najaf aligned with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq's most powerful cleric. "The spiritual guidance of the people in Iraq has become stronger than the guidance offered under the system in Iran. The marjaiya" -- the term used to describe the authority of the most senior ayatollahs -- "has more influence in Iraq, spiritual and otherwise, than it does in Iran."