Tehran said that it would send former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and deputy foreign minister Saeed Jalili to Rome on Tuesday to meet with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in a next round of talks aimed at resolving Tehran-West nuclear standoff.

A British company has joined the well-known highway construction project which is due to link Tehran to the northern parts of the country.

Iran, OPEC’s number-two exporter, hit out at the recent hike in oil prices, saying real prices were far lower than the 90-dollar-a-barrel level of last week.