Iran and Pakistan on Monday started a new round of talks over finalizing a multi-billion dollar gas pipeline project with Pakistan, but in the absence of Indian officials.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran would not launch an attack on Israel or any other country, and he does not believe the US is preparing for war against Iran.

Iranian nuclear officials and a visiting team from the UN nuclear watchdog held talks to clarify outstanding questions about Iran’s atomic work.

Iran closed major border crossings with northeastern Iraq on Monday to protest the US detention of an Iranian trade official, a Kurdish official said.

Iranians are a peaceful nation, but they may not give up even an iota of their national interests, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in New York on Sunday.

The Germany-Iran parliamentary friendship group is due to pay a visit to Tehran in the near future, Berlin’s ambassador to Tehran said.

Iran is today viewed as a powerful and influential country on the international scene, Iran’s ambassador to Thailand said.

Iranian defense industries succeeded in building a Radar-evading drone with the speed of 700 km per hour, a senior Iranian army official said Saturday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to pay a visit to Brazil next week.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheit are likely to meet each other on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York this week, a senior Egyptian official said Saturday.