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.

Iran is preparing to install advanced machinery at its new uranium enrichment site.

HOW do you solve a problem like Iran? As Richard Haas, president of America’s Council on Foreign Relations, and once the US envoy to Northern Ireland states, “what happens in the Middle East does not stay in the Middle East”.

Preparations were today under way for the return to the UK of former hostage Peter Moore after his release yesterday from two and a half years of captivity in Iraq.

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.

Iranian security forces beat protesters in central Tehran today, a sign of mounting tensions ahead of planned opposition rallies to mark a religious festival and the death of a dissident cleric a week ago.

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 Iranian government approved a plan yesterday to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion indefiance of UN demands to halt the programme.

The Iranian government approved a plan tonight to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities, a dramatic expansion in defiance of UN demands it halt the programme.

Iran’s nuclear envoy today denied that the UN inspectors’ tour of its recently revealed uranium enrichment site has turned up any evidence that the Islamic republic is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

A team of UN inspectors today prepared for their first look inside a formerly secret uranium enrichment facility that has raised Western suspicions about the extent of Iran’s nuclear programme.

THREATENING Iran with more sanctions would be counterproductive, Russia’s foreign minister declared yesterday, resisting efforts by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to win agreement for tougher measures if Iran fails to prove its nuclear programme is peaceful.

The disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June is raising questions about whether he defected and gave the West information on Iran’s nuclear programme.

THE head of the UN nuclear watchdog said yesterday there is a “shifting of gears” in Iran’s confrontation with the West to more co-operation and transparency and he announced that international inspectors would visit Tehran’s newly revealed uranium enrichment site on October 25.

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has set the date for the inspection of Iran’s newly revealed uranium processing facility for October 25.

A SENIOR EU envoy says Iran has pledged to open its recently revealed uranium enrichment plant to UN inspectors perhaps in the next few weeks.

US President Barack Obama called landmark international talks with Iran on its nuclear programme “a constructive beginning” today but said the country must match its promises of co-operation with deeds.

Senior diplomats from Britain and other leading world powers will meet Iran’s chief negotiator today in a fresh attempt to persuade the Tehran regime to come clean about it nuclear programme.

IRAN yesterday tested its most advanced missiles to cap two days of war games, raising more international concern and stronger pressure to come clean on the newly revealed nuclear site Tehran was secretly constructing.

Iran must take “concrete steps” to calm fears over its nuclear ambitions, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said today, as he refused to rule out the prospect of military action against the country.

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

Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has cast doubt over the US version of the September 11 attacks, calling it a pretext to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.

Hundreds of angry students staged a protest in front of the Danish embassy in Tehran today to condemn the reprinting of cartoons deemed insulting of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, looked thinner than usual and sounded as if he had a cold, but seemed otherwise to be in good health when he appeared on television today.

Iran’s ultra-conservative president said tonight he hoped Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would die.

Only about 16% of eligible Iraqi voters living outside their country have registered for next weekend’s elections and the largest turnout so far has been in Iran, organisers said.

More than 1.5 million Muslims were today gathering for the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, where Saudi Arabian authorities had boosted security measures amid concerns of demonstrations against a possible war in Iraq.

A suspect on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list, has left Iran on the advice of its government.

President Mohammad Khatami of Iran has crushed opponents in an election landslide that showed huge support for his drive to bring more freedom to the Islamic regime, early results indicated today.