Iran

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Industries and Mining Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian said his country’s crude steel production capacity will reach 15.5 million tons by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending March 20, 2009).

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran has no plans to sell any more of the oil it holds in floating storage off its southern coast, a top Iranian oil official said in remarks published on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Thirty percent of the increase in the price of oil is because of the decrease in the value of the dollar, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkey will increase its imports of gas from Iran to compensate for a reduction in supplies from Azerbaijan resulting from the conflict in Georgia, a senior source from the Turkish pipeline company Botas said on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on Tuesday that the Iranian armed forces are ready to counter any surprise attack by the enemies with a crushing response.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The crisis over electricity failure grows as summer temperatures climb and a drought plagues Iraq, and it is where Iran enters to help Iraqis where the US has failed.

TEHRAN,  (ISNA)-Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi declared on Tuesday Iran’s top nuclear negotiator’s letter to the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was not Iran’s answer to the 5+1 countries’ package of incentives.

TEHRAN, (ISNA)-Iran president’s adviser Morteza Tamadon emphasized Tehran believes that there is nothing as a “stalemate for the nuclear talks” with the West.

TEHRAN,  (ISNA)-Iran’s defense minister Brigadier General Mustafa Mohammad Najar and the Algerian president Abdul- Aziz Bouteflika held a meeting on Monday.

TEHRAN, (ISNA)-Algeria’s president Abdul- Aziz Bouteflika and foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki conferred economy, industry, energy and major international issues on Monday.