An Israeli army general said claimed that Iranian troops are helping Hezbollah guerrillas fire Iranian-made rockets at Israel.

A suicide car bomber attacked a group of Iranian pilgrims today as they were descending from tour buses at a Shiite shrine south of Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 39 – most of them Iranians.

Top Iranian and European envoys will meet this week to discuss “ambiguities” in a package of Western incentives aimed at persuading Tehran to suspend its controversial nuclear programme, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said today.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today called the stand-off over Tehran’s nuclear activities an unwarranted “Western outcry” and vowed not to surrender his country’s nuclear programme.

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.

Arab Gulf nations plan to send an envoy to Iran to press it to find a negotiated solution to its nuclear stand-off with the United Nations in a new diplomatic effort after months of staying on the sidelines, officials said today.

Iran has renewed its threats to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, with its president dismissing sanctions as “meaningless” and parliament seeking to end unannounced nuclear inspections.

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

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.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today said that Moscow would hold another round of nuclear consultations with Iran shortly.

IRAN yesterday rejected a Russian compromise in the stand-off over its suspect nuclear programme.

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.

European Union officials from Britain, Germany and France heard out Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator Javad Vaedi today at closed-door talks called by Iran to try to stall a deepening crisis between Tehran and the West over its nuclear programme.

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.

Confrontation with Western states over Iran’s nuclear programme has reached a climax, a former Iranian president said today.

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.

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.

The US and European nations whose diplomatic advances were rebuffed by Iran worked yesterday to present a case against the Tehran regime to the UN nuclear watchdog agency meeting this week.

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.

THE West cannot push Iran around as it has Libya and Iraq, a former Iranian president said yesterday.

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.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn in as president of Iran today, declaring his foreign policy would focus on good relations with the rest of the world.

France, Britain and Germany hardened their tone toward Iran, warning that Tehran risked triggering an international crisis and could face UN sanctions if it follows through with a threat to resume its nuclear program.

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’S Foreign Ministry yesterday insisted on a right to do research on nuclear centrifuges in a threat that could scupper a deal with the European Union to dispel international fears Tehran seeks nuclear arms.

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.

The Iranian government has said that it agrees with the acquittal of a secret agent who had been charged with the killing of an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, but Canada protested the verdict, hinting at further action to pressure the Middle Eastern country to find out the truth.

Iran’s hard-line judiciary today abruptly concluded the trial of a secret agent charged with murdering an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist, prompting lawyers for the victim’s mother to describe the proceedings as “unacceptable”.