The trial of satirical cartoonist Atena Farghadani and her lawyer on a charge of “illegitimate sexual relations falling short of adultery” after they shook hands is “clearly politically motivated”, Amnesty International said today.

A nuclear deal may have been signed by Iran and Western powers but the regional powerplay is far from resolved, writes Volker Perthes

It is hard to picture Iran’s nuclear talks with world powers without the beaming face of foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who, in reaching a deal, has shown the power of what Iranians call ‘smile diplomacy’.

Iran and six major world powers yesterday reached a nuclear deal, capping more than a decade of negotiations with an agreement that could transform the Middle East.

Iraq’s new prime minister-designate yesterday won swift endorsements from uneasy mutual allies the US and Iran as he called on political leaders to end crippling feuds that have let jihadists seize a third of the country.

Euphoria in Tehran, fury in Jerusalem, and a mixed reaction in Washington has greeted the accord reached with Iran on curbing its nuclear programme.

Iran’s Supreme Leader has warned against undermining negotiators engaged in talks with the West over its nuclear programme.

An Iranian actress and political reformer has been jailed for 18 months on security charges in another sign of the tension between Iran’s hard-line judiciary and calls for greater openness by new president Hassan Rouhani.

World powers negotiating with Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme must come up with new proposals before talks in Geneva on Oct 15-16, Iran’s foreign minister said.

AT FIRST glance, the entire greater Middle East appears to be sliding into chaos. Civil war continues to rage in Syria, while its neighbours — particularly Jordan and Lebanon — strain under the weight of more than 2m refugees.

UN chemical weapons experts have visited a Damascus suburb for a new tour of areas struck by poison gas, as Western powers began laying the groundwork for a possible punitive strike.

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

Iran says if it is attacked by Israel, it will annihilate Tel Aviv and Haifa.

Syria warned of a possible “surprise” response to Israel’s attack on its territory and Russia condemned the air strike as an unprovoked violation of international law.

Iran’s parliament is planning to summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be questioned over the country’s plummeting currency, state radio reported today.

Israel’s existence is an “insult to all humanity”, Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today.

Iran's Supreme Leader has said sanctions from Western powers will not stop his country's progress, but will only deepen hatred of the West in the hearts of the Iranian people.

Supporters of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have been reduced to a small fraction in Iran’s legislature, according to final results from a runoff parliamentary election announced today.

Conservative rivals of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were leading in the race for parliament according to early election results today, an indication the president may face a more hostile house in the remaining 18 months of his second term in office.

Iran will help any nation or group that confronts the "cancer" Israel, the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said.

Thousands of mourners chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” as an Iranian nuclear expert killed in a bomb blast was buried today.

IRAN has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site well protected from possible airstrikes, in another show of defiance against Western pressure to rein in its nuclear programme.

Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site protected from possible airstrikes, a leading hardline newspaper reported today.

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander killed in an explosion at an ammunition depot last week was testing an intercontinental missile when the blast happened, his brother was quoted by a government newspaper as saying today.

THE European Union may approve fresh sanctions against Iran within weeks, after a UN agency said Tehran had worked to design nuclear bombs, EU diplomats said.

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

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

South Korea has ordered its army units to stop using photographs of the North Korean premiere and his family for target practice.

Iran's president abruptly fired his foreign minister and gave his job to the country's nuclear chief today in the latest sign of a power struggle over its atomic programme.

AN Iranian newspaper said yesterday that Carla Bruni, the wife of France’s president, deserved to die after she expressed solidarity with a woman sentenced to be stoned for adultery.

IRAN will file a formal complaint with the UN against the United States, after President Barack Obama excluded Iran from a pledge not to use nuclear weapons against countries that do not have them, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Iran will file a formal complaint with the UN against the US after President Barack Obama excluded Iran from a pledge not to use nuclear weapons against countries that do not have them, the foreign ministry said today.

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.

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.

TENS of thousands of hard-line government supporters turned out for state-sponsored rallies yesterday, some of them calling for the execution of opposition leaders as Iran’s police chief threatened to show “no mercy” in crushing any new protests by the pro-reform movement.

TENS of thousands of mourners turned the funeral of Iran’s leading dissident cleric into an anti-government protest yesterday.

Tens of thousands of mourners turned the funeral of Iran’s leading dissident cleric into an anti-government protest today.

Tens of thousands of mourners joined the funeral procession for Iran’s most senior dissident cleric today.

The family of Iran’s most senior dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, say he has died at the age of 87.

GOVERNMENT supporters rallied across Iran yesterday to protest against an opposition “insult” to the Islamic Republic’s revered founder, with some calling for pro-reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to be executed.

IRAN threatened tougher action against protesters yesterday after more than 200 were arrested during marches by tens of thousands at universities across the country, the biggest anti-government rallies in months.

SECURITY forces and militiamen clashed with thousands of protesters shouting “death to the dictator” outside Tehran University yesterday, beating them with batons and firing tear gas on a day of nationwide student demonstrations, witnesses said.

Thousands of riot police and Revolutionary Guard members armed with tear gas, batons and firearms were deployed outside Tehran University today to prevent student demonstrations backed by the opposition.