Iran

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.

Great interest has been generated by a painting and handicrafts exhibition jointly sponsored by Iran and Japan now being held in Tokyo.

It is possible that five words have been added to our knowledge of the ancient Persian language by the recent discovery of a stone inscription on Khark Island in the Persian Gulf.

A meeting between Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator and a top aide of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has been postponed.

Iran was cutting its urea imports and would turn into an exporter in 2008, vowed a National Petrochemical Company (NPC) official yesterday.