Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezayee proposed that Muslim countries establish a union under the title of Arab Asia in order to achieve regional convergence.

Japan said Thursday it was working with Tehran to free a 23-year-old Japanese university student kidnapped by suspected bandits as he traveled alone in southeastern Iran.

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the country’s political establishment should be open to criticism.