Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will pay a visit to Iran in the next few months, the country’s ambassador to Tehran said here on Saturday.

A prominent Iranian lawmaker called for the immediate freedom of the five Iranian diplomats kidnapped during a raid by the US troops on Iran’s consulate general in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil around three months ago.

The head of the UN atomic watchdog said on Thursday that Iran was still at the starting stage of creating a uranium enrichment plant, and further dismissed concerns about Iran’s activities, saying that the country’s nuclear programs are under IAEA inspection.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel here on Friday strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Iraq’s National Assembly.

BERLIN (AFP) – The UN envoy in Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, urged talks with all the forces in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, to stanch the bloodshed in the country, in an interview published Friday. “If there is to be a chance for peace, we must talk to everyone, including alleged war …

KABUL (AFP) – US and Afghan troops backed by warplanes killed more than 35 Taliban militants during a five-hour battle in a bitterly contested area of southern Afghanistan, the US-led coalition said Friday. Meanwhile a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier was killed in a separate gunbattle with rebels …

KABUL (AFP) – US and Afghan troops backed by warplanes killed more than 35 Taliban militants during a five-hour battle in a bitterly contested area of southern Afghanistan, the US-led coalition said Friday. Meanwhile a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier was killed in a separate gunbattle with rebels …

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that his country has not yet decided whether it is going to take part in the upcoming meeting of Iraq’s neighboring states.

Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic conference stressed OIC’s full support for Iran’s right to access and use civilian nuclear technology.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stressed the need for all regional countries to help restore stability and security in Afghanistan as fast as possible.