(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Iran think Muslim and Western cultures are not doomed to fight each other, according to a poll by worldpublicopinion.org and Search for Common Ground. 64 per cent of respondents think it is possible for the two cultures to find common ground, up six points since December 2006.

After being branded as part of an "axis of evil" by U.S. president George W. Bush in January 2002, Iran has contended that its nuclear program aims to produce energy, not weapons. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has imposed three rounds sanctions against Iran after it failed to stop uranium enrichment—a process needed both to make nuclear weapons and produce electricity.

In June 2005, former Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won Iran’s presidential election in a run-off over Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani with 61.6 per cent of all cast ballots.

On Apr. 17, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said he trusts the international community will not allow Iran to develop weapons of mass destruction, saying, "I want to tell the citizens of Israel: Iran will not have nuclear capability. (...) On the basis of all I know and read, I believe that the international effort, which includes all relevant means, will succeed and Iran will not become a nuclear power."

Polling Data

Thinking about Muslim and Western cultures, do you think that violent conflict between them is inevitable, or that it is possible to find common ground?

Source: worldpublicopinion.org / Search for Common Ground
Methodology: Interviews with 710 Iranian adults, conducted from Jan. 13 to Feb. 9, 2008. Margin of error is 3.8 per cent.

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