VIENNA - U.N. nuclear inspectors revisiting an Iranian laboratory to follow up on activities that could be linked to a secret nuclear weapons program recently discovered that some equipment believed used in the experiments has disappeared, diplomats said Friday.
One of the diplomats told The Associated Press that senior officials within the International Atomic Energy Agency - the U.N. nuclear watchdog - were concerned that the removal was an attempted cover-up. Two others confirmed that some apparatus had gone missing.
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Tehran, May 28 - Serious clashes broke out on Thursday between a group of people and security forces near a petrol station in Tehran's Vali-Asr (Mossadeq) Street. Chanting "Death to Khamenei" (Iran's Supreme Leader) and "Allah-o Akbar" (God is great), angry residents clashed with the State Security Force, prompting them to fire into the air to disperse the crowd. The protest initially began over a shortage of gasoline at the petrol station. 
Separately, activists continued to scribble political graffiti urging people to take part in June demonstrations. Slogans were seen on the back seats of buses, university walls and on banknotes in the capital.
The authorities have deployed undercover units to identify and arrest those writing graffiti or distributing leaflets. On Thursday, a woman was arrested on the charge of mal-veiling in Shahrak-e Gharb district, photographed on site and warned about her attire.
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday the United States has serious disagreements with Brazil over its efforts to mediate with Iran over its nuclear program. But Clinton stressed the United States desire for good relations with the emerging South American power.
U.S. officials have privately expressed irritation that Iran has used Brazilian mediation efforts to try to defuse pressure for new international nuclear sanctions.
But Clinton's comments Thursday at Washington's Brookings Institution were the most extensive by a senior Obama administration official in public on the issue..
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Political detainees report being stripped naked and forced to stand outside in plunging temperatures during the night; electricity supplies to Kurdish areas are cut to suppress a simmering rebellion over the execution of prisoners; activists complain of blanket surveillance and of threatening phone calls from intelligence agents.
Twelve months after an election campaign that crackled with democratic promise by featuring Western-style campaigning and live televised debates, Iran is in the grip of a relentless, Kafkaesque drive to snuff out political dissent altogether.
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SHERMAN OAKS, Calif., May 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Monday, the Americans For A Free Iran (AFAFI) held a briefing on the occasion of the anniversary of the Iranian people's June 2009 uprising to express solidarity with the pro-democracy movement in Iran.
A number of prominent Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks religious figures and human rights activists participated in a panel discussion to explore ways that American citizens and their elected representatives can side with the Iran's pro-democracy movement.

...Mr. Nasser Sharif, President of California Society for Democracy in Iran, admired the concerns expressed by AFAFI representatives and emphasized that Tehran has neither the capability nor the intention to abandon its nuclear weapons program.  He said, "U.S. Government hinders the pro-democracy movement by unjustly blacklisting the main opposition, the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) which seeks freedom and democracy in Iran.  In contrast, Mr. Sharif reminded the audience, leading members of U.S. Congress have consistently stood by the Iranian people.
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