Influential Shiite cleric Ammar Hakim held talks in Ramadi on Sunday with a powerful Sunni tribal sheikh, which observers said were highly symbolic for reconciliation in war-torn Iraq.

Traders in Tyre’s bustling market say UN peacekeepers have brought “baraka” and a dose of good fortune to south Lebanon, making up at least in part for the ravages of last year’s Israel-Lebanon war.

Iran and Kazakhstan signed four agreements on mutual cooperation in different fields and issued a joint communiqué here in Tehran on Monday.

Commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s army Major General Salehi here on Monday stressed that his troops will give a crushing response to any kind of enemy aggression.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here in Tehran on Monday said enemies are fearful of the Islamic Republic army and do not dare to invade Iran.

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, heading a high-ranking delegation, arrived here in Tehran on Monday.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad extended his congratulations to Yasuo Fukuda on his appointment as Japan’s new prime minister.

An Iranian parliamentary delegation left Tehran for Italy this morning to attend talks with their counterparts in Rome.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to arrive here in Tehran Monday night to attend the summit of the heads of Caspian Sea littoral states.

Iran’s president is expected to nominate caretaker Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari as permanent minister by the end of this week or next week, a presidential aide said on Sunday.