TEHRAN (FNA)- Tehran hopes that Azerbaijan and Armenia will express their opinion soon about Iran’s proposals on mediation in the resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a senior Iranian diplomat said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The incoming president of the UN Security Council said that competition between Iran and Japan for a UNSC seat should not lead to a vote.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Among the more daring recommendations in a new report by the Pakistan Policy Working Group, a bipartisan group of American experts on US-Pakistan relations, is that the United States should eventually reconsider its opposition to a proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The UN General Assembly’s head Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann apparently annoyed several western countries when he dismissed West’s negative propaganda against Iran at a time the Islamic Republic is seeking to become a UN Security Council member.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran rejected the Bahraini foreign minister’s call for a new regional grouping which would include Israel as well as Arab states, Iran and Turkey.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Bush administration has shelved plans to set up a diplomatic outpost in Iran in part over fears it could affect the U.S. presidential race or be interpreted as political meddling.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran’s foreign policy has a logical strategy, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, describing the country’s foreign policy a legacy of proper exploitation “of chances” in favor of “national interests”.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The 147,000-ton Hormozal Aluminum Complex in The Persian Gulf Special Mining and Metal Industries zone will boost the country’s annual aluminum production capacity by 67 percent, the managing director of the zone announced on Friday.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – NATO launched an airstrike near the Afghan border with Pakistan on Friday, but there was no intrusion into Pakistani territory, a Pakistani military spokesman said, contradicting accounts by intelligence officials in the region.

VIENNA (Reuters) – Syria said on Friday it was cooperating fully with a U.N. inquiry into allegations of secret nuclear work in the country but would not go as far as opening up military sites because this would undermine its security.