Iran

The international Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) introduced Iran, with an annual production rate of 23 mln tons, as the 9th producer of gains among Asian states in 2006.

Two drug smugglers and an Iranian police officer were killed in shootouts outside a northeastern Iranian town that borders Afghanistan.

At least 17 people were killed and another 21 injured early Saturday in a road accident in northern Iran.

Asian benchmark 180-centistoke fuel oil rose to a record on higher benchmark Dubai crude and lower supplies in the Middle East after Iran cut exports.

Tehran said that expansion of relations with the Arab countries underpins its foreign policy.

The Middle-East peace conference has been designed to help Israel get rid of its present political isolation, Iran’s ambassador to Thailand Mohsen Pak Ayeen said, adding that the US neoconservatives are striving to hide their political failures by making such a move.

An earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter scale jolted the town of Esfarayen in Iran’s northeastern province of Northern Khorassan on Friday.

Senegal’s Culture Minister Birame Diouf underlined his country’s enthusiasm for expanding cultural cooperation with Iran, specially in grounds of film production, movie screening and training Senegalese filmmakers.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that Tehran will not negotiate over its nuclear rights but said his government is prepared to answer questions from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Iranian and Indian foreign ministers in a meeting on the sidelines of the 62nd UN General Assembly meeting in New York expressed hope about finalizing a multibillion dollar pipeline project which is due to take Iran’s gas to India via Pakistan.