Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here Wednesday said that his country has started uranium enrichment at an industrial scale since the beginning of the current Iranian year, (started March 21).

A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei is likely to be released Wednesday afternoon.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is scheduled to pay a several-hour visit to Tehran following his attendance in the upcoming summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia early next week.

174 Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly gave vote of confidence to the President’s nominee and elected Ali Akbar Mehrabian as Industries and Mines Minister.

217 Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly gave vote of confidence to the President’s nominee and elected Gholam Hossein Nozari as Oil Minister.

Italy’s ENI will continue to do business in Iran amid US pressure for companies to cut investment in the country, ENI’s chief executive said in an interview published Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said on Tuesday that the visit of IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to Iran is on the agenda but the exact time would be announced after mutual confirmation.

The total cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to be $1.6 trillion (£770bn) – double the amount President George Bush says it will cost.

The recognition of Abkhazia by Russia would amount to declaration of war against Georgia and “we will accept this challenge,” an influential lawmaker Givi Targamadze, who chairs the parliament’s defense and security committee, said on November 13.

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he expected a parliamentary election on December 2 to give him a “moral right” to influence Russian politics after he steps down from his Kremlin post next year.