Iran deliberately delayed its announcement that it had captured an American surveillance drone to test US reaction, the country’s foreign minister said today.

Syrian security forces kept up a violent crackdown on dissent today as the embattled regime faced surprising calls to end the violence from its closest ally, Iran.

Iran insisted today that its nuclear project was not affected by a mystery computer virus attack.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency made a dangerous mistake by criticising Iran for not fully co-operating with it, Tehran’s nuclear chief said today.

Iran has submitted a proposal to Russia to jointly produce nuclear fuel for its Bushehr nuclear power plant and any future facilities, Iranian media reported today.

RUSSIA will load fuel into Iran’s first nuclear power plant next week despite US demands to prevent Iran obtaining nuclear energy until the country proves that it’s not pursuing a weapons capacity, officials said yesterday.

Iran's nuclear chief said today that his country has produced 17kg (37.5lb) of uranium enriched to 20%, defying UN demands to halt the controversial programme.

Iran has banned two UN nuclear inspectors from entering the country, a state media report said today.

THE Pentagon said yesterday that the US wanted a UN Security Council resolution “within weeks” to tackle Iran’s nuclear programme as Iran said it had begun making higher-grade nuclear fuel.

Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered his country’s atomic agency to begin the production of higher enriched uranium.

IRAN yesterday said it would refuse to discuss a newly declared nuclear plant at forthcoming international talks and cautioned Western powers it could curb co-operation further if they repeated “past mistakes”.

Iran’s nuclear chief said his country will allow the UN nuclear agency to inspect its newly revealed, still unfinished uranium enrichment facility.

IRAN yesterday turned over to the UN nuclear agency documents on its past atomic energy activities, but the dossier apparently did not include the origin of traces of weapons-grade uranium found in the country.

Iran today turned over to the UN nuclear agency documents on its past atomic energy activities, but the dossier apparently did not include the origin of traces of weapons-grade uranium found in the country.

Iran acknowledged today that traces of highly enriched uranium have been found at a second site in the country, but insisted the source was contaminated equipment purchased from another country.

IRAN will scale back its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog in response to the agency’s October 31 deadline for Tehran to prove its atomic programmes are peaceful, Iran’s representative to the agency has said.

Iran has warned that an October deadline to prove its nuclear aims are peaceful could backfire and make Tehran even more secretive instead of opening up its programme to outside inspection.

The chief of the UN nuclear agency pressed Iran today to come clean with “full transparency” on uranium enrichment and other evidence that could point to a covert atomic weapons programme.