Iran

ST. PETERSBURG  (AP) —  Group of Eight (G-8) leaders were told Iran was seriously considering a package of incentives aimed at getting it to halt its nuclear programme, South African President Thabo Mbeki said Monday.

TEHRAN — Western analysts see Iran as relishing an Israeli offensive that will divert mounting pressure away from its nuclear programme and say Hizbollah could not have acted without a nod from its old ally Tehran.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Gunmen in uniforms seized 30 or more Iraqi sports officials, including the national Olympics chief, and their bodyguards in Baghdad on Saturday, barely an hour after parliament voted to extend a state of emergency.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AP) — A missile fired by Hizbollah, not an unmanned drone laden with explosives, damaged an Israeli warship off Lebanon, the army said Saturday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly Gholam Ali Haddad Adel stressed Iran’s sensitive position and standing in the region and reminded that his country has never posed any threat to the region all throughout the history.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union hopes for a substantive response from Iranian nuclear negotiators on Tuesday regarding a package of incentives offered to Tehran as a way of ending the standoff caused by its nuclear programme, an official said.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran welcomes development of all-out ties with Armenia, in the spheres of transportation, culture, sports, tourism and energy in particular. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with his Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian here on Wednesday,

The United States’ global energy-control strategy, it’s now clear to most, was the actual reason for the highly costly regime change in Iraq, euphemistically dubbed “democracy” by Washington. But while it is preoccupied with implanting democracy in the Middle East, the United States is quietly being outflanked in the rush …

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Sudanese Ambassador to Tehran viewed close relations and cordial ties among parliaments of the Muslim states as the best solution to the problems and challenges of the world of Islam.   Sudanese Ambassador to Tehran Abdullah Khezr Bashir met with Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly Speaker Gholam …

TEHRAN (AP) — Iran rejected calls Tuesday for a quick answer to the package of Western incentives aimed at persuading it to suspend its controversial nuclear programme, insisting that it will come up with a formal response by mid-August. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran had to take time to …