Tehran  - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday welcomed overtures by US President Barack Obama, but said that Tehran is still waiting for real changes in the new US administration's policies.

Obama, in a message last month on the occasion of the Persian New Year, said he wanted better ties with the Islamic republic and offered a new start in relations after decades of mistrust.

Tehran  - The presidents of Iran and Venezuela after talks Thursday said they had decided to increase cooperation in tackling the global economic crisis, Iran's state television network IRIB reported.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said after his first meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that the Tehran summit would see the drafting of a bilateral
10-year plan for the crisis.

Tehran - Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has called on all opposition groups to unite in order to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the upcoming elections, the ISNA news agency reported Thursday.

"The society has reached a juncture in which all [political groups] should try to change the political status quo," Khatami told a group of reformists in Tehran.

Tehran  - Opposition groups in Iran have many differences among each other but are unanimous on one issue: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should go.

Many observers believed that the strategy by the opposition for the June 12 presidential election would be focused on Ahmadinejad's foreign policy, such as his uncompromising stance in the nuclear dispute that has led the country toward international isolation.

Tehran  - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday opened a regional economic summit in Tehran and called on the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) to increase political and economic cooperation.

Iran, Pakistan and Turkey founded the ECO in 1985. Later Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan joined the group.

Ahmadinejad said the central Asian bloc should work harder to become an influential international organisation.

Tehran  - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday called for a stronger alliance with Syria in a bid to resist Israel and its allies over the Palestinian crisis.

In a meeting with visiting Syrian Prime Minister Mahmoud Naji Otri, Ahmadinejad praised the two countries' position on the international and regional issues, particularly the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

"Recent developments in the world proved that Iran and Syria were moving on the right track insisting on the need of resistance against enemies," the Iranian leader said.