CANNES: Iranian Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi drew enthusiastic applause Friday for one of the most-keenly awaited films at Cannes, with a Paris-set tale about shifting relationships. “The Past” picks up many of the wrenching family themes and the taut drama of the Tehran-based “A ...

TEHRAN : Women cannot contest Iran's June 14 presidential election, a member of the Islamic state's electoral watchdog said in media reports on Friday, dashing the hopes of some 30 female candidates. "The law prohibits women from being president," said hardline cleric and former judiciary chief ...

ISTANBUL  - Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Thursday that nuclear talks with the EU'S foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton were "long and useful" and that both sides have decided to continue the discussions."Last night, as Lady Ashton said, we had long, useful talks," ...

KABUL - Iranian guards shot dead 10 Afghan migrants illegally trying to cross the border from the western province of Herat, officials in Kabul said Sunday.Thousands of Afghans cross illegally into Iran every year to seek work as Afghanistan’s economy struggles to grow amid insurgency that ...

TEHRAN : A strong earthquake of 6.2 magnitude hit southern Iran early on Saturday, killing one child and injuring at least 20 others in remote, mountainous villages, state television reported.The US Geological Survey registered the quake at 0208 GMT, measured at 85 kilometres (52 miles) southeast ...

DUBAI : An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined the presidential race on Friday, with authorities keen to make the June vote a peaceful contrast to the upheaval that followed the disputed 2009 poll. Reformist groups have been suppressed or sidelined since then and the next ...

TEHRAN :Iran began registering candidates Tuesday for a June 14 presidential vote, the first in the Islamic republic since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election sparked months of violent street protests in 2009. The interior ministry opened the five-day registration process at 8:00 am ...

TEHRAN:Iranon Tuesday warned against any “provocations” in the Gulf as a US-led international naval force began a massive minesweeping exercise. “Any movement in the region will be fully monitored by our defence forces,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told ...

TEHRAN : Iran is ready to help "train" the Syrian army if Damascus seeks such assistance, the commander of the Islamic republic's army ground forces, General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, was quoted as saying on Sunday. "As a Muslim nation, we back Syria, and if there is need for training we will provide ...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan will not comment on reported talks between Iran and India about reviving multi billion dollars Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project until it receives formal request from New Delhi.The Foreign Ministry officials refuse to comment on the Indo-Iran reported talks, saying ...

LAHOREIran shattered the dreams of Pakistan for qualifying for the main round of the AFC U-14 Football Cup with a fine 3-0 win in the last match of the Group D qualifiers at Mashad, Iran on Monday.  Pakistan team failed to maintain its winning run in the most crucial tie before beating strong ...

islamabad - Iranian and Indian oil ministers are due to discuss extension of a gas pipeline project which is due to take Iran’s rich gas reserves to Pakistan and then to India in a meeting in New Delhi next week.Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi is slated to visit New Delhi next week to ...

LAHOREPakistan U-14 football team thrashed Kyrgyzstan 8-0 in the AFC U-14 Championship qualifiers match at Samen Al Aemeh Stadium, Mashad, Iran on Friday. Strikers M Shahid (3rd, 12th and 30th minutes) and Majeed Khan (22nd, 30th and 31st minutes) played superbly and scored three goals each for ...

Syria hopes to clinch more financial aid from its allies Russia and Iran soon, but still has enough foreign reserves to pursue its war on rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad, the central bank governor said.Speaking at the bank's headquarters, hit by a car bomb on April 8, Adeeb Mayaleh ...

ISLAMABAD - Iran Oil Ministry spokesman says New Delhi is in talks with Tehran to join the multi-billion-dollar pipeline which Iran is building to export natural gas to Pakistan."Since India has been motivated by Pakistan's seriousness in building the [Iran-Pakistan] `peace pipeline', New Delhi is ...

VIENNAAFP/ReutersIran said on Tuesday that it would be a "reliable partner" in the Middle East if Western countries would take a more cooperative approach in talks on its nuclear programme.Western powers blame tension with Iran in part on its refusal to cooperate with United Nations calls for curbs ...

A powerful earthquake struck near Iran's Gulf port city of Bushehr on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and injuring 800 but leaving Iran's only nuclear power plant intact, officials said.Shocks from the quake were felt across the Gulf in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, ...

LAHORE - President Asif Ali Zardari has ruled out any compromise on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project saying that ‘no power can disrupt it’.Talking to the editors, columnists and senior journalists at Bilawal House on Saturday, President Zardari said that he would not betray the ...

The United Nations (UN) chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday urged Iran to comply with UN resolutions demanding it curb its nuclear activities, warning that heightened international rhetoric over the issue risked degenerating into "war." He said Tehran should build confidence in its nuclear programme by ...

Officials in Iran on Sunday called a halt to rescue operations following twin quakes that devastated scores of northwestern villages, killing 250 people and injuring hundreds, saying all survivors had been located and saved."There are no people left to recover from under the rubble in any village, ...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that there is no obstacle currently to expand barter trade with other countries, particularly Pakistan, IRNA reported.Ahmadinejad made the remarks in a meeting with the visiting special envoy of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Tehran."Iran and ...

The leaders of the G8 industrialized nations meeting at Camp David on Friday-Saturday agreed that Iran needed to take concrete steps to prove the claim that its nuclear program was peaceful, a U.S. official said.The onus is on the government in Tehran to disclose more about its nuclear activities, ...

A senior Iranian commander Sunday said that the country has reverse-engineered an American spy drone captured by Tehran's armed forces last year and has begun building a copy.General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who is chief of the aerospace division of the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted on Sunday by the ...

With nine days to go, Iran still has not agreed on a location for talks with world powers over its nuclear program, Western officials said Wednesday but suggested Istanbul remained the most likely venue. The officials — from the European Union and a Western country that will be at the planned ...

Former Chief of Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Qazi Hussain Ahmad denounced the report of the United Nation's special human rights rapporteur on Iran. Talking to IRNA, Iranian State Run News Agency, Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that the west is trying to defame the Muslim countries by issuing false reports. Ahmad ...

Pakistani political and defence analyst Dr Shireen Mazari has said that Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) states have taken a principled position at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors meeting by supporting Iranian nuclear program.NAM’s statement has welcomed ...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched a fresh tirade against the West, saying the Islamic Republic does not fear military action, Iranian media reported on Sunday. "The Iranian nation doesn't fear your bombs and warships and planes. Such weapons are worth nothing," the Fars News Agency ...

The United States may use a new 13,600-kilogram bunker-buster bomb against Iran, DefenseNews.com reported on Thursday quoting the U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle as saying."The massive ordnance penetrator is a great weapon. We are continuing to improve that. It has great capability now and ...

Israel will not allow Iran to obtain atomic bombs but prefers a peaceful solution to the issue, Israel's prime minister said Thursday after talks in Washington about Iran's nuclear program. Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Israeli TV stations a day after returning from talks with President Barack Obama ...

US President Barack Obama said an announcement of six-power talks with Iran offered a diplomatic chance to defuse a crisis over its nuclear programme and quiet the 'drums of war'. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany ...