Iran

Leaders of the member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) will hold their ninth consultative summit in Riyadh mid- May.

The four years since US President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” have been a legacy of missed opportunities, ineffectual plans, surges and course corrections that have always been too little, too late or both, critics say.

Iraq’s foreign minister said Sunday that he expects to soon see “substantive discussions” among US, Iranian and Iraqi diplomats on improving security and stability in his country. But it was unclear if the United States and Iran had agreed to a meeting.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi said that Tehran’s active participation in Iraq security conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh played a significant role in defusing the US administration’s hostile measures against Iran.

Investigations into the case of Iran’s former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian continue, an informed source told FNA here on Saturday.

Tehran’s public and revolutionary prosecutor said that Iran’s intelligence ministry is responsible for the verification of the accusations charged against the country’s former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that the US raid on Iran’s consulate general in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil dealt a blow on the reputation of the Iraqi government.

Laotian assistant foreign minister voiced his country’s support for Iran’s civilian nuclear activities.

Chairman of Iran-Cuba parliamentary friendship group met with his Cuban counterpart in Havana on Friday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to pay visits to the United Arab Emirates and Oman in mid May.