Iran finds parts of a Western incentives package aimed at making a breakthrough in the nuclear dispute “acceptable”, but some other parts should be removed, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman today praised Russia and China for their opposition to the US drive to impose UN sanctions on Iran for its nuclear programme.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared it pointless for Europe to devise an economic and political incentive package if it required Tehran to stop enriching uranium – effectively pulling the rug from under the latest international diplomatic effort before it was to begin today.

The Iranian parliament today threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty if the US continued pressuring Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment.

Suspending uranium enrichment was “not on our agenda”, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman insisted today as he declared UN Security Council intervention would be “completely illegal”.

Iran warned today that it would not take UN actions against it lying down - nor would it give up its research-scale enrichment of uranium.

Iran today said its nuclear programme was irreversible, issuing yet another rejection of a UN Security Council deadline to cease enriching uranium.

Iran will no longer consider a proposal to move its uranium enrichment programme to Russian territory and is instead considering large scale uranium enrichment at home, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

Iran warned today that it will resume large scale uranium enrichment if it is referred to the UN Security Council.

The Iranian government has hit back at an accusation by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice that it has inflamed violent protests over caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad and demanded an apology.

IRAN yesterday rejected US and Danish accusations the government had inflamed last week’s violent protests against western embassies in Tehran over caricatures of Mohammed and demanded an apology.

IRAN ended all voluntary cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog yesterday but said it was open to a proposal to enrich Iranian uranium in Russia, softening its earlier response to being reported to the UN Security Council over fears it wants to produce nuclear arms.

Iran today said it was still willing to negotiate with the international community over its nuclear programme – but dismissed its referral by the UN nuclear watchdog to the Security Council.

IRAN is to examine the scientific evidence supporting the Holocaust, an apparent next step in hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign against Israel and a move likely to deepen Tehran's international isolation.

Iran said today that a resumption of talks with Europe over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme could lead to important results.

Iran, under heavy US-led pressure to curb its nuclear programme, has opened a high-security military site to UN nuclear inspectors who also met senior personnel at the facility, an Iranian official said today.

IRAN yesterday reiterated it is ready to reopen unconditional negotiations with Europeans over its controversial nuclear programme, which the US says is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.

Iran today reiterated that it is ready to reopen unconditional negotiations with Europeans over its controversial nuclear programme, which Washington says is aimed at producing a nuclear bomb.

Iran today insisted the resumption of its uranium enrichment programme is not on its agenda – but warned that it may change its mind if the International Atomic Energy Agency refers Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

IRAN yesterday rejected what it termed conditional negotiations with Europe over Tehran’s nuclear program and said it wanted instead to have talks with the UN’s international nuclear watchdog agency.

Iran claimed today that it had arrested anti-government separatists with links to British intelligence services, accusing them of involvement in violent protests and a recent spate of deadly bombings.

IRAN insisted yesterday that it would resume uranium conversion this week after rejecting EU incentives to end its nuclear fuel work, and said it was not worried about being referred to the UN for possible sanctions.

Iran insisted today it will resume some nuclear activities that were suspended in an attempt to gain international confidence, but indicated actual uranium enrichment won’t resume as long as talks between Iranian and European negotiators have not collapsed.

Iran said yesterday that a US military strike against it would be a strategic blunder, but brushed aside tough talk from Washington as psychological warfare rather than a real threat.

Iran acknowledged for the first time today it has convicted some Iranians of supporting al-Qaida.

IRAN yesterday rejected demands by the EU to abandon its uranium enrichment program, but reasserted its readiness to provide guarantees it will not build a nuclear weapon.

Iran today barred Canadian and European diplomats, as well as journalists representing foreign media, from the trial of a secret agent charged with murdering an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist.

Iran said today it has prepared a complaint against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for his 1980 invasion of Iran and for using chemical weapons against Iranians during the neighbouring nations’ eight year war.

Iran seized three small British navy boats and arrested eight armed crew members today as they patrolled the Shatt al Arab waterway, which forms a southern border with Iraq.

At least 32 fighters loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr were killed when US followed Iraqi forces into a mosque in the holy city of Kufa, where rebels were said to be storing weapons.

Just hours after Iran was rebuked by the UN atomic energy agency for its failure to report all past nuclear activities at the end of a days long meeting, Tehran announced an indefinite freeze on the IAEA inspectors’ visits.

Iran today admitted publicly to buying nuclear equipment from an international black market, including dealers on the Indian subcontinent, in a bid to display greater transparency and ease concerns over its controversial nuclear programme.

IRAN’S foreign ministry said on Sunday that Tehran would not give up its nuclear program, including uranium enrichment, despite international pressure to prove it is not developing atomic weapons.

Iran was quick to deny a report today that it was holding a top al-Qaida official, but it acknowledged it had not yet identified all the members of Osama bin Laden’s terror group it has in custody.

THE US ambassador to Azerbaijan denied a Russian press report that the Pentagon plans to use the Caucasus republic as a launching pad for military action against Iran.