Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to pay a visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia next month to attend the third summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

A gang of three armed robbers broke into a branch of Iran’s Melli Bank here in Tehran on Saturday and took 72 mln Tomans away after they wounded a security guard.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan is scheduled to arrive here in Tehran Saturday afternoon.

Iran believes the shares of rich nations which enjoy extra benefit from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank must be reduced.

China said on Friday the new sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran can only make the Iranian nuclear issue complicated.

Tehran’s provisional Friday Prayers leader Ali Jannati dismissed as biased certain analyses presented about the resignation of Iran’s former nuclear negotiator, stressing that Ali Larijani’s replacement with Saeed Jalili would not be followed by a shift in Tehran’s nuclear policy.

Iran’s first Vice-President Parviz Davoudi said his country’s relations with Syria are at the highest levels possible, adding that Tehran has not set a limit on the expansion of its relations with Damascus.

Trade between Iran and Thailand grew to $409.990 mln in the first half of this year, up 74.76 per cent over the comparable 2006 figure of $234.60 mln, the Iranian ambassador to Thailand said on Friday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a message to Heinz Fischer on Friday extended his congratulations to the Austrian president, government and nation on the country’s national day.

Former Commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps dismissed US accusations about IRGC’s role in supporting terrorism, underlying that the United States and Zionists are the main and real contributors to present insecurities and terrorism worldwide.