TEHRAN (FNA) – The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced here on Friday that the country’s economic growth rate in the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2007) reached 6.7 percent, a 0.7 percent rise in comparison to that of the same period in its …

TEHRAN (FNA) – US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he would favor holding direct talks with Iran and Syria in a bid to stabilize the Middle East if elected president.

The Taliban insurgency and terrorism has recently gained strength in Afghanistan in spite of the presence of about 50.000 US-led NATO troops in the country.