Iran

Director General of Iran’s plenipotentiary trade office said Iran’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a long-term process and that agreement of the US or EU does not accelerate the process.

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul to iron out “some misunderstandings” between Baghdad and Ankara over Iraq’s objection to holding a key regional summit in Istanbul.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday Iran had not yet decided whether to attend a meeting in Egypt next week to discuss how to end Iraq’s sectarian violence.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel here on Wednesday warned that incompletion of his country’s first nuclear power plant by the Russian contractor would certainly leave negative impacts on Tehran-Moscow long-term economic ties.

 Iran’s President defined boosting of cooperation and exchanges with independent states as his country’s definite policy, saying that consolidation of relations and deepening of cooperation among regional countries reinvigorates peace and stability and serves nations’ welfare.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad termed strengthening of Iraq’s legal bodies as the only way to safeguard security and integrity of that country, stressing that a secure, independent and powerful Iraq would be the best friend for his country and would serve the interests of regional nations as well.

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said Thursday that talks with a senior EU official had brought them closer to “a united view” of how to break a deadlock over Tehran’s nuclear issue.

Oil eased, but stayed above $68 a barrel on Thursday, after Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said differences with the European Union over its nuclear program were gradually narrowing.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari arrived in Tehran Wednesday afternoon to encourage Tehran to attend the upcoming Iraq security talks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced his country’s inclination to develop ties with different American and African countries.