Tehran - A bomb exploded on Wednesday in a mo

Tehran  - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran would not suspend its controversial nuclear enrichment programme for the sake of improving ties with the United States.

"We have already gone beyond the discussion of suspension (of uranium enrichment) and will decisively continue our (nuclear) path," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with state television network IRIB.

Moscow - The Iranian defence minister, now visiting Moscow, is seeking advanced surface-to-air missiles that could help Iran counter air strikes, a Russian newspaper reported Tuesday.

Mostafa Mohammad Najjar met with his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov on "current and future issues of bilateral military relations," the Russian defence ministry said.

Kommersant daily said Najjar would likely lobby Moscow to deliver long-range S-300 surface-to-air missiles. Russia, the paper said, was extremely reluctant to deliver the weapons for fear of damaging ties with the new US administration.

Tehran - A spokesman of the Iranian judiciary confirmed Tuesday that seven members of the Bahai religion would soon face trial on charges of espionage, the ISNA news agency reported.

They were charged with "espionage for aliens" and would face trial next week, Ali-Reza Jamshidi said.

Iran's chief prosecutor, Qorban Ali Dorri Najafabadi, on Sunday accused the Bahais of having exchanged information with Israel, adding that there were documents to prove the charges.

Tehran  - The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, has distanced himself from previous remarks made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said that the Holocaust was "not of Iran's business," the daily Etemad Melli reported Sunday.

Since his presidency began in August 2005, Ahmadinejad has publicly doubted the historic dimensions of the Holocaust and hoped for eradication of Israel from the Middle East - causing widespread international condemnation.

Tehran, Feb 15 : Reports indicate that the famous six "salt men" of Iran, which are actually ancient Iranian mummies, are in critical condition and have been damaged since their find 12 years back.

The mummies were discovered at the Chehrabad Salt Mine in the Hamzehlu region near Zanjan 12 years ago.

Studies on the fourth Salt Man, kept at Zanjan''s Zolfaqari Museum, indicate that the body is 2000 years old and he was 15 or 16 years old at the time of death.

Three other salt men are also kept at the same museum.