PRNewswire-USNewswire/ A new WorldPublicOpinion.orgpoll finds that two-thirds of Iranians support halting their government's development of nuclearweapons in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against Iran.
One-third would haltenrichment in exchange for lifting sanctions, while another third would allow internationalinspectors into nuclear facilities to ensure that weapons were not being developed.
The poll alsofinds that majorities believe that economic sanctions imposed by the United States and UnitedNations are having a negative impact, and that sanctions will be tightened if Iran continues itscurrent nuclear program.
Steven Kull, director of WPO comments, "Though most Iranians are feelingthe bite of economic sanctions and expect them to tighten, only a third are willing to negotiateaway the right to enrich uranium. However two thirds are willing to make a deal that would precludethe development of nuclear weapons."
In 2005, the United States and the United Nations increasedsanctions against Iran when the International Atomic Energy Agency declared it to have violated thenuclear Non-Proliferation treaty.
Although 60 percent of respondents say that sanctions have hadat least some negative impact and 70 percent expect sanctions to be increased if Iran continuesenriching uranium, most Iranians favor persisting with enrichment -- even those who supportedopposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi in the presidential election.
Most respondents opposetheir country's building nuclear weapons. Sixty-five percent favor a deal to prevent theirdevelopment so that sanctions may be lifted.
Thirty-one percent would support an agreementwhereby Iran would continue its nuclear energy program without enriching uranium. Thirty-fourpercent would prefer another deal which would let Iran continue enriching uranium, but would grantinternational inspectors unrestricted access to all its nuclear facilities.
Sixty percent ofIranians also express a readiness to begin direct and unconditional negotiations with the UnitedStates. WorldPublicOpinion.org, a collaborative project involving research centers from around theworld, is managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. Itconducted a national poll of 1,003 Iranians between Aug. 27 and Sept. 10, 2009, margin or error 3.1percent. See WorldPublicOpinion.org for study details.