Iran said on Wednesday that it has and will take the needed options to defend itself against western powers, particularly the US.

Iran’s caretaker Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari here Wednesday said that phase 6 of Iran’s South Pars Oil and Gas field is now ready to go into operation.

An earthquake measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale jolted the town of Mohr in Iran’s southern province of Fars on Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is due to Leave Tehran for Herat, Afghanistan late this week to attend the 17th ministerial meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).

Vice-Speaker of the Iranian parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar said the second summit of the heads of Caspian Sea littoral states in Tehran indicated success of Iran’s strategy for sparking regional and international convergence through dialogue and understanding.

Iran on Wednesday assured of its continued efforts to set a kidnapped Japanese student free, but meantime, called on Tokyo to refrain from direct intervention in the case

An earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale jolted the town of Taybad in Iran’s northeastern province of Khorassan Razawi on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed technical problems for the delays in completing Iran’s first nuclear power plant, being built with Russian help.

Czech-Iranian relations should be stabilized and a space for communication should open, Czech Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova told CTK after a meeting between Foreign Minister Karel Sschwarzenberg and Iranian parliament foreign committee head Alaaddin Borujerdi Tuesday.

Prime Minister John Howard, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd and Defence Force head Angus Houston have joined mourners at Brisbane’s Saint Stephen’s Cathedral for the military funeral of trooper David Pearce.