Iran

Iran said on Sunday a Middle East conference organized by the United States would result in an erosion of Palestinian rights because Washington had shown in the past that it was not an objective mediator.

Turkish and US commanders on Saturday discussed measures against Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq, while Turkey’s prime minister said the struggle against the separatists was at a “critical stage”.

Ivory Coast’s foreign minister is scheduled to arrive here in Tehran Sunday night to attend the first meeting of the two countries’ joint economic commission.

 Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa is due to pay a visit to Iran on Monday.

55.5% of Iranians believe that the present parliament with a conservative majority has been more successful in solving people’s problems than the reformist parliament acting at the time of former President Khatami, results of a recent opinion poll suggested.

Iran does not support any special candidate in Lebanon and it stresses the need for a comprehensive agreement and consensus among Lebanese groups, tribes and figures, foreign ministry spokesman said.

Iran believes there is enough oil in the global market but is capable of pumping more into it if the figures warrant and if there is agreement by OPEC to do so, Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said.

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana announced Thursday they will meet late next week, shortly before Solana is due to report to the UN Security Council on Tehran’s willingness to freeze uranium enrichment.

Italy backs Turkish membership of the European Union “100 per cent” but Ankara needs to make progress on key issues such as the Cyprus question, the Italian foreign minister said Thursday.

An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted the areas in the vicinity of the port city of Lengeh in Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan on Thursday.