The polls have opened in the election that will decide a successor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A leading Republican senator’s tweet comparing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a monkey is drawing criticism from a fellow Republican politician as racist.

Iran’s authorities have detained the daughter of influential ex-president and political centrist Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez criticised international sanctions on Iran as he met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran has begun run-off elections for more than one-fifth of parliamentary seats.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed US accusations that Iranian government agents plotted to kill the Saudi ambassador in the United States.

American diplomats led a walkout at the UN General Assembly today as Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a sweeping attack on the United States and major western European nations.

Iran would consider ending uranium enrichment, the most crucial part of its controversial nuclear activities, if world powers send Tehran nuclear fuel for a medical research reactor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said tonight.

A handmade grenade exploded near President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s convoy in western Iran today, but the leader was not harmed, according to reports.

A YOUNG Frenchacademic flew home from Iran yesterday, 10 months after she was arrested and accused of spying, as France denied striking a secret deal with Tehran.

A SENIOR Iranian cleric has claimed that women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today extolled Iran's military might during an annual army parade, saying the country is so powerful that no one would dare attack it.

PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced new advances in Iran’s uranium enrichment drive yesterday, as government supporters rallied en masse and the opposition reported clashes on the 31st anniversary of the revolution that brought the clerical establishment to power.

Iran’s president marked the anniversary of the nation’s foundation as an Islamic republic today by declaring it is now a “nuclear state”.

Hundreds of thousands of pro-government demonstrators gathered in the central square of Tehran today to mark the 31st anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iranian Police surrounded the campus of Tehran University today, trapping hundreds of students protesting what they said were fabricated government images showing the burning of a photo of the revered founder of the Islamic republic.

THE Iranian government approved a plan yesterday to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion indefiance of UN demands to halt the programme.

The Iranian government approved a plan tonight to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion in defiance of UN demands it halt the programme.

Iranian riot troops attacked anti-government protesters with batons and tear gas today during state-backed rallies marking the 30th anniversary of the storming of the US Embassy in Tehran.

A suicide bomber killed five senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard and at least 26 others in an area of south-eastern Iran that has been at the centre of a simmering Sunni insurgency, state media reported.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country was ready to shake all hands “that are honestly extended to us” – but diplomats walked out during other remarks in his speech to the UN General Assembly.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen last night called for more urgency in battling climate change as he arrived in New York for a United Nations gathering on the dangers of greenhouse gases.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today said Iran will neither halt uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights but is ready to sit and talk with world powers over “global challenges”.

Iran faced more world condemnation today after parliament backed the Cabinet appointment of a man wanted for the bombing of a Jewish centre in Argentina.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today called for the leaders of the opposition to be prosecuted over Iran's post-election turmoil, stepping up pressure against the pro-reform movement that says he won the election by fraud.

IRAN’s police chief acknowledged yesterday that detained protesters were abused in prison and the country’s top prosecutor said those responsible for the mistreatment should be punished, in unusually pointed criticism of security officials.

TWO prominent defeated Iranian presidential candidates said they would maintain their campaign against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, which has sparked Iran’s worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

State radio says Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has told politicians to be careful in their stances on the country’s post-election unrest, saying that disturbing security is “the biggest vice.”

PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, already at the centre of a post-election crisis, came under criticism from his own hardline supporters yesterday for appointing a first vice president who once caused an outcry by saying Iranians were friends of Israelis.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged a “crushing” response to continued US condemnation of his nation’s crackdown on postelection protest, saying today that President Barack Obama’s criticism revealed his insincerity about improving relations.

PROTESTERS clashed with riot police again yesterday around Iran’s parliament, as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the country won’t annul the results of last week’s disputed presidential election.

Iran’s state TV today has reported the country’s top electoral authority has ruled out annulling the results of the disputed June 12 election in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was named the winner.

AN EERIE calm settled over the streets of Tehran yesterday as state media reported at least 10 more deaths in post-election unrest and said authorities arrested the daughter and four other relatives of ex-President Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of Iran’s most powerful men.

Police were using tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters in the Iranian capital to demand a new presidential election, witnesses said today.

Iran’s opposition leader received another stern warning today not to encourage his supporters to take to the streets.

YOU would have to wonder what was going through President Barack Obama’s mind during his CBNC interview in the White House, and his decimation of the unfortunate insect.

Tens of thousands of black-clad protesters filled the streets of Tehran again today, joining opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to mourn demonstrators killed in clashes over Iran’s disputed election.

Supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi are protesting in the capital Tehran for the fourth straight day over the disputed Iran presidential election.

SUPPORTERS of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and defeated challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi staged rival rallies yesterday, while the clerical regime said it would recount some disputed ballots from the presidential election.

More than 100,000 opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defied an Iranian Interior Ministry ban today and streamed into central Tehran to cheer their pro-reform leader in his first public appearance since elections that he alleges were marred by fraud.

Protesters set fires and smashed shop windows in a second day of violence as groups challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election tried to keep pressure on authorities.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tonight urged Iranians to accept his controversial victory in the presidential election.

Iranian riot police clashed with supporters of the main opposition candidate in disputed presidential elections as incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner by a landslide today.

Iran’s Interior Ministry has released partial results showing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the lead, having secured nearly 70% of the votes counted so far.

An American journalist jailed in Iran has been convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison just days after she was tried behind closed doors, her lawyer said today.

Iran’s former reformist president said today that he will challenge hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the country’s upcoming presidential elections.

A Christmas Day message of peace and goodwill from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran must be “treated very carefully”, Jewish groups said today.

PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday Iran would not halt sensitive nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs and brushed aside threats of more sanctions.

Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has cast doubt over the US version of the September 11 attacks, calling it a pretext to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.

Hard-liners allied with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pulled ahead in Iran’s parliamentary elections, according to partial results early today.