A fragile and limited ceasefire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and its surrounding countryside has been extended for the third time, for another 48 hours starting at 1am this morning, the Syrian military said yesterday.

Your editorial “Obama on Iran nuclear deal - A very sobering lesson for Israel” (April 6) creates the false impression that Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu is the only critic of the Iran nuclear “framework”.

Washington cannot sit back and allow Iraq to be overrun by a terrorist group that is capable of and willing to launch attacks on the US, writes Anja Manuel.

Iran’s supreme leaderdescribed as "stupid and idiotic" Western expectations for his country to curb its missile development, striking a defiant tone ahead of a fresh round of nuclear talks.

A bomb ripped through the third floor of the state TV building in Damascus today, damaging several offices and wounding at least three employees, Syrian TV said.

Syrian rebels have said that Iranians kidnapped in Damascus are elite Revolutionary Guards.

Today, May 1, was, for those of us old enough to remember, one of the great set pieces of the Cold War’s propaganda battles.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards will hold new naval exercises in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in February, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

SATELLITE images show buildings have been razed and bulldozers were at work at an underground structure near a site where Iran processes uranium, a US-based think-tank said yesterday, without offering an explanation.

Video of the stealth US drone that Iran says its forces downed earlier this week has been shown on state TV.

TAHRIR Square in Cairo, Green Square in Tripoli, Syntagma Square in Athens and now Zuccotti Park in New York — popular anger against entrenching the power elite is spreading around the world.

A senior member of Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle slipped into Niger along with three carloads of collaborators, an official said, but the toppled Libyan leader was not among them nor were any members of his immediate family.

Iranian forces crossed into neighbouring Iraq and killed 30 fighters from a group Tehran said was involved in last week’s bombing of a military parade, state TV reported.

Police in Iran have arrested 40 suspects after the devastating twin bombings of a mosque in the south-eastern city of Zahedan, according to an Iranian news agency.

BRITAIN’S ambassador in Iran was summoned to the country’s foreign ministry yesterday amid growing tension over the clampdown on protesters in Tehran and other cities.

IRAN tested its longest-range missiles yesterday, in an act that seems to be a deliberate provocation of the international community.

Hundreds of protesters were beaten back by police today as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term as Iran’s president.

An Iranian passenger plane crashed killing all 168 people on board today.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sought to disperse the doubt surrounding his re-election in his first major television address since the result, but even as he spoke, opponents went to their rooftops shouting "death to the dictator".

Iran’s supreme leader crushed the fading hopes of election demonstrators today with a declaration that the government would not yield to them.

Iran moved a step closer to a final election victory declaration for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today when a leading critic of the voting announced he was withdrawing his objections "for the good of the country".

As the protests continue, however, Mousavi might be propelled into a position he never sought: the Mikhail Gorbachev or FW de Klerk of Iran, a member of the ruling establishment who surprises even himself by deviating from the line to the point where the system falls apart

Iran’s top electoral body today rejected calls to scrap the country’s disputed election, ending hopes of a rerun demanded by angry opposition supporters.

IRANIAN security officials defused a bomb planted on a plane carrying 131 passengers, officials said yesterday, the latest incident of violence ahead of next month’s presidential election.

IRAN announced yesterday it has tested a new weapon capable of sinking ships 300km away and reiterated threats to close a strategic waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf if attacked.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice flexed America’s muscles in the Middle East, forcefully warning Iran the US would not ignore threats and would take any action necessary to defend friends and interests in the Persian Gulf.

IRAN tested more missiles in the Gulf yesterday as the United States reminded Tehran that it was ready to defend its allies.

Iran test-fired more long-range missiles in a second round of exercises meant to show that the country can defend itself against any attack by the US or Israel, Iranian state television reported today.

Iran’s president said today that he does not see the possibility of a war with the United States or Israel, dismissing military threats by the two countries as a “funny joke".

The cost of oil surged to a new record near US$144 a barrel today as oil company bosses gathered in Madrid to discuss rocketing prices.

Oil rose above $141 a barrel in Asia today as expectations of a weaker dollar spurred investors to seek refuge in dollar-denominated oil futures as a hedge against inflation.

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned that if his country is attacked, Tehran would strike back by barraging Israel with missiles and controlling a key oil passageway in the Persian Gulf, according to a newspaper report published today.

An Iranian official said today that the Islamic republic has increased its production to more than 300 tons of a gas used for uranium enrichment, a semi-official news agency reported.

IRAN accused the United States yesterday of fabricating video and audio released by the Pentagon showing Iranian boats confronting US warships in the Persian Gulf.

Iran today claimed a video of its gunboats harassing American warships in the Persian Gulf was made up.

Prosecutors have accused five Argentines with falsely implicating a group of Iranians in the 1994 terrorist bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre, Iran’s state news agency said.

The US imposed new sanctions against Iran’s defence ministry, its Revolutionary Guard Corps and a number of banks today.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has appointed a new head of the elite Revolutionary Guard, it was announced tonight.

US troops battled Iraqi police suspected of links to Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen today, killing six.

US troops raided a Shiite area of Baghdad today, capturing two militants believed linked to Iran and sparking a battle that Iraqi officials said killed 19 people.

IRAN yesterday warned that the United States would be made to “regret” its detention of five Iranian officials in Iraq but said it was still ready to consider continuing talks with its arch foe.

Iranian troops today killed 10 insurgents in ongoing clashes in the country’s north-west, near the border with Turkey, Iran’s official news agency reported.

Fifteen British sailors and marines released by Iran after nearly two weeks in captivity have flown out of a Tehran airport today aboard a commercial flight bound for London.