Iran President's Office via AP

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, visits the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility in Iran in this April 8, 2008 file photo.

Some 63 percent of Americans would be in favor of taking military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to a new survey.

The Pew Research Center asked 26,210 people in 21 different countries to give their views on Iran’s alleged plans to get nuclear weapons, finding widespread opposition to the idea in the West and also in some countries in the Mideast.

More than nine in 10 people in the United States, U.K., France and Germany were against Iran getting nuclear weapons. Two percent of Americans said they were in favor.

About 61 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Republicans backed military force to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons, with 31 percent of Democrats and 15 percent of Republicans saying this should be accepted if it happens.

The survey found that 76 percent of Jordanians, 66 percent of Egyptians and 62 percent of Lebanese people were also against the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran.

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Iran insists its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes, and says it has no intention of making weapons.

“In most countries, there is majority support among opponents of a nuclear-armed Iran for international economic sanctions to try to stop Tehran’s weapons program,” the Pew report laying out the findings, “A Global ‘No’ to a Nuclear-Armed Iran,”  reads.

“The Chinese and the Russians are notable dissenters in this regard. The poll also found majorities in Western Europe and the United States disposed to taking military action to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. Again, the Russians and Chinese disagreed,” it added.

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Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

Launch slideshow

Some 77 percent of Russians were against a nuclear-armed Iran, but of those only 46 percent backed tougher sanctions and just 24 percent approved of military action. In China, 54 percent were opposed, and of those 38 percent backed more sanctions and 30 percent would support the use of force.

Roughly half of Washington’s European allies would support military action to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, the survey found.

Iranians already feeling pain of sanctions

Some 50 percent of people in Pakistan were in favor of Iran acquiring nukes, compared to 11 per cent against, with a large number of people not expressing an opinion.

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Lebanon was split along religious lines, with 73 percent of Shiite Muslims, 31 percent of Christians and just 5 percent of Sunni Muslims in favor. Iran is overwhelmingly a Shiite country.

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MOUNT SALAK, Indonesia -- Clearer weather finally allowed Indonesian helicopters to land Saturday and retrieve some remains of the 45 people aboard a Russian-made plane that crashed into a volcano during a demonstration flight.

Investigators still have found no sign of the black box recorder that might explain why the new Sukhoi Superjet-100 slammed into Mount Salak about halfway through a 50-minute flight intended to woo potential Indonesian airline buyers on Wednesday.

Search teams who climbed the dormant volcano's near-vertical slopes have been struggling to retrieve remains of the victims, and helicopters were unable to land because of thick fog shrouding the mountain about 50 miles southwest of Jakarta, the capital. All those aboard the flight are now presumed dead, and the plane's shredded wreckage is scattered around the dense jungle.

Helicopters brought four body bags with remains to Jakarta early Saturday morning for identification, search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said.

"We also have deployed a team to find the black box, but so far it had yet found," Prakoso said.

Col. Anton Chastila, a police forensic doctor in Jakarta, said his team has received the remains, adding it was unclear how many victims they represent.

About 60 forensic experts will sort through the body parts piece by piece and take DNA samples to identify them, Chastila said.

Indonesian rescuers find bodies near wreckage of jet that 'fell' from sky

Wednesday's demonstration — locally known as a "joy flight" — was mostly carrying representatives from Indonesian airlines, which are rapidly expanding to serve a burgeoning middle class in the sprawling archipelago where air travel between islands is a quicker alternative to ferries.  

Just 21 minutes after takeoff from a Jakarta airfield, the Russian pilot and co-pilot asked for permission to drop from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet. They gave no explanation, disappearing from the radar immediately afterward.

Watch world news videos on msnbc.com

It was not clear why the crew asked to shift course, especially since they were so close to the 7,000-foot volcano, officials have said.

The Superjet is Russia's first new model of passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago and was intended to help resurrect its aerospace industry.

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LONDON - Plans to upgrade the estimated 180 American tactical nuclear weapons in western Europe are expensive, dangerous and likely to trigger a dangerous reaction from Russia, according to a new report.

"Modernization ... will be a form of expensive nuclear escalation by default which can be expected to draw a hostile reaction from Moscow," said the study by the European Leadership Network (ELN) think tank, which was released on Thursday.

NATO is preparing to replace aging aircraft and antiquated free-fall nuclear bombs with precision-guided warheads carried by modern U.S. aircraft, according to the report by Edmond Seay, a former arms control adviser to NATO's U.S. mission. 

The weapons to be replaced were "originally deployed to help NATO counter massive Soviet conventional force superiority in central Europe" and are now "widely seen to have no real military purpose or value," according to a summary of the report.

The American government will be replacing these "relics of the Cold War" with precision guidance systems at a cost of $4 billion, in spite of swinging defense spending cuts, the report said.

European countries will also have to pay large amounts to replace the defense system, the summary adds: 

European countries, whose pilots are trained to deliver the B-61s to target, are also facing expensive decisions to replace the relevant aircraft, which are now coming to the end of their effective service lives. Each replacement aircraft – (the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter) – is slated to cost from $90 million to just over $110 million.

The nuclear force modernisation plans, if carried through, will therefore produce a “formidable increase in nuclear capabilities for NATO in Europe”, rendering these weapons more credibly usable in war-fighting scenarios with Russia.

The newly formed think tank includes a number of high-profile figures on its executive board, including former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, and former foreign or defense ministers from NATO member countries such as France, Spain, Norway, Germany, Turkey and the United Kingdom, among others.

(To read the full report on ELN's site click here)

Russia has shown that it is acutely aware of NATO's plans. The country's military chief of staff said in early May that Russia could launch preemptive strikes against future NATO missile defense facilities in Europe if sufficiently threatened.

The warning indicated that Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold out U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield as a big barrier to better relations and, specifically, to Kremlin approval of deeper nuclear arms cuts. 

Washington says the shield is meant to counter a potential threat from Iran and poses no risk to Russia. Moscow maintains that it could give the West the capability to intercept Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, upsetting the strategic equilibrium between the former Cold War foes. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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AFP - Getty Images file

Chechen Islamist rebel leader Doku Umarov, seen in a screengrab taken from a video on Islamist website kavkazcenter.com, is suspected by Russia's security services of being behind a plot to attack the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Russia's secret service claimed Thursday to have foiled plans to stage a terrorist attack in the Black Sea resort of Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games, according to reports.

Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said Thursday that Russia's secret service, the FSB, had discovered caches of ammunition with portable surface-to-air missiles, grenade launchers, flame throwers as well as grenades, rifles and explosives, The Associated Press reported.

The ammunition was found in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia, a region that has strong links with Russia.

The FSB said it suspected the attacks were being masterminded by Doku Umarov, a Chechen rebel leader.

The AFP news agency said three militants were arrested during the operation.

"Russia's FSB could establish that militants were planning to move these weapons to Sochi during 2012-2014 to use for terror acts during planning and hosting the Olympic Games," the committee's statement said, as quoted by Russian news agencies and reported by AFP.

"Doku Umarov -- while maintaining close contacts with the Georgian special services -- coordinated all activities to organize the delivery of materials to carry out the acts of terror," the committee added.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Sergey Dolya/ AFP - Getty Images

The missing Sukhoi Superjet-100 takes off for a demonstration flight from Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma airport on Wednesday. The aircraft was on the fourth stop of a six-nation "Welcome Asia!" roadshow after having already been to Myanmar, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

Updated at 9:56 a.m. ET: A Russian-made airliner carrying 46 people lost contact with air traffic controllers during a demonstration flight in Indonesia Wednesday, officials said.

The Indonesian military said the Sukhoi Superjet-100 "fell" from the sky, Reuters reported. Several diplomats from the Russian Embassy, potential buyers from several Indonesian airlines and journalists were among the 38 passengers on board, according to Rear Marshal Daryatmo, a search and rescue official who only uses one name. There were also eight Russian crew members, he added.   

The flight took off from Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma Airport at about 2 p.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) and disappeared from radar near the 7,200-foot Mount Salak in West Java, national search agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso told The Associated Press. It had been scheduled to return 50 minutes later.

Citing an official, Reuters reported that radio contact was lost with the plane after it descended from 10,000 feet to 6,000 feet.

"I saw a big plane passing just over my house," said Juanda, a villager who lives near Mount Salak told local station TVOne. "It was veering a bit to one side, the engine roaring. It seemed to be heading toward Salak, but I didn't hear an explosion or anything."

Olga Kayukova, a spokeswoman for Russia's United Aircraft Corporation, told Reuters the Sukhoi Superjet-100 was making a second flight as part of the demonstration program. 

"The first flight was carried out in a normal mode ... The pre-flight preparations were carried out in full and the plane was completely ready to fly," she said. 

"According to information from Indonesia, the contact with the plane was broken after 20 minutes from the take-off ...  search works are under way." 

An Indonesian charter airline Sky Aviation posted on its Facebook account what it said was a picture of a Sukhoi Superjet-100 at the airport.

Mast Irham/ EPA

Relatives of people who were believed to be on the missing Sukhoi Superjet-100 aircraft check the passenger list at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday.

Search and rescue teams were heading to the area, said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation. Bad weather, however, forced at least two helicopters to turn back.   

'No trace'
"A helicopter has just returned but says there is no trace of it. Rescuers are looking at the maps trying to determine where it could be," Sergey Dolya, who flew on the missing aircraft's first flight, told Russia Today.

Russia Today said a hijacking had not been ruled out by local officials, but noted the plane would have run out of fuel by now.

With a capacity of 68-103 passengers, the Sukhoi's Superjet-100 was developed in partnership with Boeing and Italy's Finmeccanica. The plane is the first completely new airliner designed by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The missing plane was on the fourth stop of a six-nation "Welcome Asia!" roadshow after having already been to Myanmar, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

It was supposed to head next to Laos and Vietnam. Russia has hoped that the short- to mid-range jet, which made its maiden run in 2008, will help it break into international markets dominated by Boeing and Airbus.

Sukhoi, which has orders for 170 planes, plans to produce up to 1,000 Superjets, primarily for foreign markets.

Msnbc.com staff, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Alexander Zemlianichenko / Pool via AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and former President Dmitry Medvedev, right, stand as an honor guard march during an inauguration ceremony at the Cathedral Square in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on Monday.

Updated at 5:45 a.m. ET: MOSCOW --  Vladimir Putin was sworn in as Russia's president at a glittering ceremony on Monday, hours after clashes between police and thousands of protesters in the country's capital laid bare the deep divisions over his return to the Kremlin for six more years. 

In the latest demonstrations on Sunday, police detained more than 400 people, including three opposition leaders, after tensions boiled over at a rally attended by about 20,000 people across the Moscow river from the Kremlin. 

Police hit protesters on the head with batons as they tried to stop demonstrators advancing towards them, carrying metal crowd barriers and throwing objects. The crowd fought back with flagpoles before the police eventually restored order.

"Putin has shown his true face, how he 'loves' his people -- with police force," said Dmitry Gorbunov, 35, a computer analyst who took part in the protest. 

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Months of protests have polarized Russia and left Putin facing a battle to reassert himself or risk being sidelined by the powerful business and political elites whose backing is vital. 

Lavish reception
Putin, a former KGB spy, took his oath before nearly 2,000 guests in the Kremlin's St Andrew Hall, the former throne room with sparkling chandeliers, gilded pillars and high Gothic vaults, before being blessed by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and taking charge of the nuclear suitcase. 

"We will achieve our goals if we are a single, united people, if we hold our fatherland dear, strengthen Russian democracy, constitutional rights and freedoms," Putin said in a five-minute speech after taking the oath. "I will do all I can to justify the faith of millions of our citizens. I consider it to be the meaning of my whole life and my obligation to serve my fatherland and our people." 

He was also due to host a lavish reception featuring only Russian food and drink. 

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Although he has remained Russia's supreme leader for the past four years as prime minister, Putin will take back the formal reins of power he ceded to his ally Dmitry Medvedev in 2008 after eight years as president. 

On Sunday, several thousand people staged a rally supporting Putin, seen by his backers as the only leader capable of defending Russia's interests on the world stage and the guardian of the economy at home. 

While Putin's critics have tired of a political system that concentrates power in one man, many of his supporters welcome his domination of the country of more than 140 million. 

Andrey Smirnov / AFP -Getty Images

Russian Police officers detain opposition supporters during a rally in Moscow on May 6, 2012. Russian riot police violently clashed with protesters at a rally on the eve of strongman Vladimir Putin's return for a third Kremlin term, arresting over 250 people including opposition leaders.

"Democracy is the power of the majority. Russia is everything, the rest is nothing!" Alexander Dugin, a Kremlin-aligned nationalist, told the pro-Putin crowd. 

Rifts
The rival rallies Sunday underlined the rifts opened by Putin's return to the Kremlin and protests that were sparked by allegations of electoral fraud but fuelled by many Russians' frustration that one man continues to dominate the country. 

The BBC reported that prominent opposition figures Alexei Navalny, Sergei Udaltsov and Boris Nemtsov were among the people detained Sunday. 

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Although the protests had lost momentum before Sunday's rally, they have given birth to a civil society, two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, that is gradually chipping away at Putin's authority. 

Putin, who will be 60 in October, grew up in Soviet days and worked as a spy in communist East Germany, is under pressure to show he can adapt to the new political landscape. Few think he has changed much -- if at all. 

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Putin has eased up on the choreographed macho antics that burnished his image at his peak in Russia, such as riding horseback bare-chested and shooting a tiger with a tranquiliser gun. 

Harder to shake off will be his habit of seeking total control and learning to cope with political opponents and a middle class demanding more political freedom. 

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He has to quell rivalries between liberals and conservatives battling for positions in the new cabinet under Medvedev, who is swapping jobs with Putin. The outcome of the struggle could help determine how far reforms go to improve the investment climate. 

Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP/Getty Images

Russians march along a street during an opposition protest rally in Moscow on Sunday. Russian riot police violently clashed with protesters on the eve of Vladimir Putin's return for a third Kremlin term.

The $1.9 trillion economy is in better shape than in most European countries but is vulnerable to any change in the price of oil, Russia's main export commodity. The budget is under pressure from Putin's lavish election spending promises. 

Putin has said he wants to attract more foreign investment by improving the business climate, reduce corruption and red tape, and end Russia's heavy dependence on energy exports. He has not spelled out how he will do this. 

Putin is likely, as in the past, to use tough anti-Western rhetoric on foreign policy to drum up support if times get tough in Russia. But he has never yielded his strong influence over foreign policy as premier, so a major policy shift is unlikely.

Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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Abdula Magomedov / AFP - Getty Images

Investigators work at the site of two blasts in the Dagestan's capital Makhachkala, early on Friday.

MAKHACHKALA, Russia - Suicide bombers killed 12 people and wounded 110 in attacks on a police post on the outskirts of the capital of Russia's Dagestan region, local investigators and law enforcement sources said Friday. 

The attacks outside Makhachkala late Thursday were the deadliest in months, undermining efforts by Russian security forces to contain an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus region near Sochi, where Russia will host the Winter Olympics in 2014. 

More than a decade after federal troops toppled an Islamist government in Chechnya, also in the North Caucasus, security forces are fighting militants whose ranks are swollen by anger at poverty, clan feuds and pervasive corruption. 

The first suicide bomber detonated a bomb when police stopped a vehicle to check documents, a statement by the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said.

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The second explosion came when fire brigades and ambulances arrived, causing additional casualties. 

A witness at the scene said a fire truck was reduced to charred wreckage. 

"After the blast, only the wheels of the truck remained whole," the witness told reporters. 

Bashir Aliyev / AFP - Getty Images

Television pictures show the site of a blast in Makhachkala on May 4, 2012.

Local officials said that in addition to the 12 killed in the blast, 90 had been taken to hospital and 20 were treated at the scene. 

"Fragments of human bodies are scattered at the post," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a law enforcement official as saying. 

Local investigators said they had found the remains of a man and a woman suspected of being the suicide bombers. 

Thursday's blasts were heard by residents far away in the center of Makhachkala. 

The attacks fell just three days before Vladimir Putin, who sent troops 12 years ago to crush rebellion in Chechnya, is to be sworn in as president. 

An unofficial Islamist website, kavkazcenter.com, said the police post was almost completely destroyed. A nearby gas pipeline also was damaged during the attack, RIA news agency reported. 

Dagestan faces near daily shootings and bombings blamed on Islamist rebels. It has become the epicenter of violence in the low-level insurgency across the mainly Muslim North Caucasus following two separatist wars in Chechnya. 

The insurgents want to create an Islamic state in the region. They have said they were behind a suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport that killed 37 people in January 2011 and twin bombings that killed 40 people on Moscow's metro in 2010. 

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Russia’s chief of defense staff reportedly warned Thursday that his country was prepared to use "destructive force preemptively" to stop the United States from creating a missile-defense system in Europe.

General Nikolai Makarov made the remark as another Russian official said international talks about the plan were near stalemate, although NATO remained optimistic a deal would be reached, BBC News reported.

Washington says the missile defense system -- due to be completed in four phases by roughly 2020 -- is meant to counter a potential threat from Iran. Moscow says the system will undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent because it could also give the West the ability to shoot down Russian missiles.

"A decision to use destructive force preemptively will be taken if the situation worsens," Makarov said, according to BBC News.

He said Russia would improve its defenses to counter the perceived threat, Russia Today reported.

"The deployment of new offensive armaments in southern and northwestern Russia … including Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad Region, provides for the destruction of the European missile defense infrastructure,” Makarov added.

Talks at dead end?
Negotiations between the U.S., NATO and Russia began Thursday in Moscow. However, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the discussions were "close to a dead end," BBC News reported.

The Kremlin wants a legally binding guarantee the system will not be used against Russia. The United States says it cannot agree to any formal limits on missile defense.

US Ambassador Mike McFaul vents on Twitter about Russian media

Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who was in London, U.K., said Thursday he was “hopeful” that a deal could be reached.

Rasmussen said a deal would not happen before a NATO summit in Chicago on May 20-21.

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"We will continue our dialogue with Russia...after the Chicago meeting," he told reporters.

The missile shield's first phase is to be declared up and running at the summit.

Russia missiles shown heading to U.S. cities
The planned system will include interceptor missiles based in Poland and Romania, a radar system in Turkey and missile-defense capable warships at sea.

At the conference in Moscow, Makarov told delegates the system will have the potential to intercept Russian IBMs and submarine-launched strategic ballistic missiles by 2017-18.

The audience, including U.S. and NATO officials, were shown computer-generated images depicting the reach of radars and interceptor missiles to be deployed as part of the shield.

Dome-like designs displaying interceptor ranges and blips of light representing Russian missiles headed for U.S. cities lit up the screen. 

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