Iran’s caretaker Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari here Thursday assigned Ali Kordan as his acting deputy.

Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezayee proposed that Muslim countries establish a union under the title of Arab Asia in order to achieve regional convergence.

Japan said Thursday it was working with Tehran to free a 23-year-old Japanese university student kidnapped by suspected bandits as he traveled alone in southeastern Iran.