United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in a phone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called for Tehran’s assistance to resolve the hostage-taking crisis in Afghanistan.

Iran, Iraq and the United States started a study of the root causes of insecurities in Iraq in a trilateral expert-level committee meeting in Baghdad on Monday.

Iranian oil minister expressed the hope that the final contract for the export of Iran’s gas to Pakistan and India through a multi-billion dollar pipeline – known as IPI pipeline – would be signed by the leaders of the three states in the near future.