Even as Pakistan continues to urge the international community to accept its membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, highly placed sources in the United States who are involved with the tracking of nuclear commerce have claimed that Islamabad is still selling nuclear materials to North Korea.
The sanctions bar foreign countries from exporting refined petroleum to Iran, as well as restrict access to US financial institutions for any entities that help Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. Also, it prevents investment, transfer of technology and development of Iran's energy sector, and makes it easier for states and localities to divest from companies that do business with Iran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked his Pakistani counterpart, on Monday, to quicky arrest the leaders of a Pakistan-based Sunni group blamed by Tehran for a suicide attack that killed 42 people, including top officers of the elite Revolutionary Guard.
Noting that Iran's statement are often based on politics rather than physics, the White House has said it does not believe in Iranian President Ahmadinejad's latest statement on Tehran's capability to produce highly enriched uranium.
India's pistol shooter Heena Sidhu pulled out of the Asian Airgun Shooting Championship in Iran due to the compulsory hijab rule for all women athletes.
General David H Petraeus, the top United States Commander in Middle East, has signed a secret directive ordering that 'Special Operations' troops be sent to countries such as Iran for reconnaissance, a move that may lead to possible strikes against Tehran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate. These military officials will be dispatched to nations in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa as well as Iran on intelligence gathering assignments.
The port is likely to ramp up trade between India, Afghanistan and Iran in the wake of Pakistan denying transit access to New Delhi for trade with the two countries.
French First Lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy has been branded a 'prostitute' and a 'marriage breaker' in Iran after she criticised a Tehran court ruling of stoning a woman to death for adultery, a media report said.
'If a 'two-front war' develops, Iron Brother may only turn out to be a drag on the PLA, since Pakistan is in no position to wage a war with India,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The sooner Pakistan and India face these geopolitical realities, the better it will be for their own security and prosperity,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
British-Iranian woman Ghoncheh Ghavami controversially jailed in Tehran after trying to attend a men's volleyball match was released on bail on Sunday pending an appeal court verdict.
India's low passion, very cautious, relationship with Iran of the last 36 years awaits transformation, says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd). Prime Minister Modi's visit cannot be a negotiating event; it is a symbolic one to strengthen the politico-diplomatic relationship.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said Monday that India has unambiguously said it's against Iran developing or acquiring nuclear weapons and that if the United Nations Security Council slaps sanctions against Tehran, it would support such action, but hoped United States President Obama's outreach to Iran on this issue would yield a compromise that doesn't necessitate such an outcome.
Israel has called for Iran's expulsion from the United Nations for its calls to wipe out the Jewish state from the world map and expressed fears over the "nuclear threat" posed by Tehran.
Iran and Pakistan recently signed an export deal that commits Tehran to selling natural gas to Islamabad from 2014.
The conference on NPT review will kick off on Tuesday and the Iran-West showdown over Tehran's nuclear programme is likely to dominate the proceedings. India, which is not a signatory to the NPT has decided to stay out of the conference.
Earlier in the morning, race walkers Khushbir Kaur and Manish Singh finished creditable fourth and sixth respectively in the 20km race.
Weakness in euro against the dollar weighed on the rupee.
The United States said on Wednesday it is willing to directly engage with Iran on Tehrans's nuclear programme and hoped the latter would accept its invitation.
The Left parties on Friday night hit out at the government for going along with a US-sponsored resolution censuring Iran for its controversial nuclear programme saying India's stand was not surprising.
Vikas Krishnan (60kg) and Naveen Kumar (81kg) fetched gold medals, while three others settled for silver as the Indian boxing team finished runners-up at the Asian Youth Boxing Championships in Tehran, Iran.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly carried out tests to stand down its air defence to allow Israeli fighters to make bombing runs on Iran's nuclear sites. The official Saudi Press Agency, however, dismissed the reports, calling them 'false' and 'slanderous'.
The two countries, technically still at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce, agreed on Tuesday that North Korea would send a large delegation across the border to next month's Games.
The White House has warned lawmakers that tightening sanctions on Iran could push the US on a "march to war" and derail a diplomatic push to limit Tehran's nuclear programme.
India should have the self-confidence to engage Iran on its own terms and on the basis of a clear understanding of its national interests, says Harsh V Pant
Iran has announced that it will produce uranium enriched to contain 20 per cent of the fissile isotope uranium-235, which is to refuel a reactor in Tehran that makes medical isotopes, after talks aimed at acquiring the fuel abroad stalled.Iran already makes 3.5 per cent low enriched uranium.
Khamenei said the people had chosen who they wanted as president and that 'the Islamic establishment will never manipulate people's votes and commit treason'.
'Drone warfare has come to stay.' 'India should exploit the expected Reaper acquisition from the US to build an effective counter terror campaign,' argues Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
Neda Soltan, a student protester who was shot dead by Iranian militia while demonstrating against the rigged presidential elections, has been chosen as the Times Person of the Year.Soltan, 26, ignored the pleas of her family, as she went with her music teacher to join a huge demonstration organised by opposition partiesin Tehran.Hours after leaving home, as she and other demonstrators chanted: 'Death to the dictator', she was shot.
The Iranian group OpenStadiums, which is campaigning for the right of women to attend sports fixtures in the Islamic Republic, said that some women were arrested near Azadi stadium on Thursday during the Esteghlal-Persepolis match.
India on Friday said it could not ignore the conclusions of the International Atomic Energy watchdog IAEA on Iran's nuclear enrichment programme before deciding to vote against Tehran, but felt the door for dialogue with it should be open.
On a mixed day for Indian boxers, five of the nine in action advanced to the finals of the Asian Youth Championships in Tehran, Iran.
Indian boxers came good on Sunday as they advanced to the semi-finals of the Asian Youth Boxing Championship in Tehran, Iran.
Amid warning by the UN nuclear watchdog that Iran could be hiding multiple secret nuclear sites, the UN and Iranian officials have been secretly engaged in negotiating a deal to allow Tehran keep most of its nuclear programme and end sanctions in return for co-operation with International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, a news report said on Tuesday.
'The flight crashed 16 minutes after its take-off from the International Imam Khomeini Airport,' said Iran's Aviation Organisation spokesman Reza Jafarzadeh.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said on Wednesday that Washington would do "everything it could" to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, even as Obama Administration aims at political engagement with Tehran.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Five Indians made it to the medal round in the individual section of the second Asian Grand Prix archery tournament in Tehran. Olympian Tarundeep Rai (men's recurve), L Haridas Singh (men's compound) and Sweety Kumari (women's compound) moved into the final on Friday, while Muni Ram Tirkey (men's recurve) and Sushma (women's recurve) reached the bronze medal play-off.
Mathai took the office on Monday. He succeeds Jaimini Bhagwati, who retired recently.
A new study, published in the British Medical Journal, has revealed that drinking steaming hot tea is actually linked with an eightfold increased risk of cancer of the food tube or the oesophagus.
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