TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi said culture and cultural relations could serve as the best possible means to expand Iran-Egypt ties.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iran’s Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said measures and actions of the western powers are against the teachings and aspirations of the holy Jesus Christ, stressing that western powers stand against the Christ as they are a symbol of war and animosity.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) head Monday said if Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reached an agreement, his country would for the first time export over 540 million cubic feet of gas per day to an Islamic neighboring state.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) Four former Iranian officials, including one who held a key Oil Ministry position and an ex-customs director, have been jailed for up to five years for taking bribes and embezzlement, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

Iraq’s interior minister ordered the dismissal of Baiji’s police chief, after a suicide bomber killed at least 20 people and wounded 80 in the northern Iraqi town on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

A suicide truck bomb killed at least 20 people and wounded 80 in the northern Iraqi city of Baiji on Tuesday, the police and U.S. military said, in the deadliest attack in Iraq for two weeks.

Israel is considering easing criteria for freeing Palestinian prisoners, a move one Israeli official said on Monday could pave the way for the release of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran expects its first nuclear power plant will produce electricity at full capacity in around a year after passing a “critical stage” with the delivery of fuel from Russia, a top official said.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran has increased the monthly gasoline quota for private drivers to 120 liters from 100 liters from Saturday in a bid to end scarcity and check black marketeering, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Hamid Reza Asefi said yesterday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran and Pakistan with their navies positioned in the Indian ocean rim are yet to give their nod for participation in Indian Navy’s novel initiative to host a regional interactive conclave in February next year.