Iran

An earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale jolted the town of Aradan in Iran’s northern province of Semnan Monday night.

National Iranian Central Oil Company (NICOC) Managing Director Alireza Zeighami yesterday announced that the development of 18 new oil and gas fields would be put out to international tender in the first phase.

Iran said on Tuesday it has agreed to a new round of talks with United States on improving security in Iraq.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on a visit to Tehran on Monday that the “empire of the dollar is crashing,” one day after his country and anti-US ally

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation Board of Governors is due to discuss a recent report by the IAEA Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei on Iran’s nuclear activities later this week, a spokesman of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said.

Iran’s Ambassador to Cambodia Seyed Javad Ghavam Shahidi voiced Tehran’s preparedness to assist Phnom Penh in developing and renovating the country, in oil, gas and petrochemical sectors in particular.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will visit Doha later this week to discuss the nuclear issue with Qatari authorities, Iranian Ambassador Mohamed Taher Rabbani said on Sunday.

Proposed by foreign minister and approved by the president, Mohammad Reza Bakhtyari was appointed as Iran’s ambassador to South Korea.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in an article published in the Thai paper ‘The Nation’ presented his country’s views about world peace and security, and further elaborated on Iran’s nuclear policies.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived on a lightning visit to Iran on Monday, the latest evidence of the burgeoning ties between the two states.