TEHRAN (FNA)- The Zionist regime lacks the diplomatic, economic and social ability to launch a wide-scale war, a senior military advisor to the Iranian supreme leader said here on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The average price of Iran’s heavy crude oil went down by over $18 per barrel in August this year.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar denied on Tuesday claims by western media that his country was running sleeper cells in the six Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran plans to offer a collective strategy to establish stability and security in the Caucasus, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior US diplomat has asked St. Vincent’s recent move to establish diplomatic ties with Iran despite Washington’s opposition, the Caribbean island’s premier said.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian prosecutors said on Tuesday they are to check safety standards at national carrier Aeroflot after a plane operated by one of its subsidiaries crashed killing all 88 people on board.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday in a last-minute bid to clinch an agreement a day before his Kadima party holds an election to replace him.

GAZA (Reuters) – Thousands of Hamas members voted in a secret internal ballot in the Gaza Strip that re-elected the Islamist group’s most prominent leaders to its highest bodies and signaled no change in policy.

GAZA (Reuters) – Eleven Palestinians including a pro-al Qaeda militant and a child were killed on Tuesday in overnight gun battles in the Gaza Strip, Hamas police officials said.

The new US military commander in Iraq, Lt Gen Ray Odierno, has said that recent security gains there are “fragile and reversible”.