New Delhi, Feb 10: Iran has said it retains the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful power generation.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Iran''s Ambassador to India, Seyed Mehdi Nabizadeh, said any country had the right to develop energy sources.

Tehran  - State-organized mass demonstrations started on Tuesday throughout Iran, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the revolution that established the Islamic Republic in Iran.

According to state media, millions of people nationwide and hundreds of thousands in the capital Tehran will attend the rallies to show their solidarity with the Islamic administration.

The crowds in the capital will walk towards the Azadi, or Freedom, Square in western Tehran where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to hold his annual speech.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama said Monday that in the coming months he will be looking for ways to open direct talks with Iran geared toward developing a "relationship of mutual respect."

Obama cautioned that Tehran's pursuit of nuclear weaponry, support for terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas and "bellicose" language toward Israel play a negative role in the Middle East.

London, Feb. 6  Global public perceptions of Pakistan's influence has been rated among the most negative along with Iran and Israel, according to BBC World Service radio's annual poll of 21 countries.

Eighteen countries had mainly negative views of Pakistan''s influence according to the survey, almost all of which was conducted just after the attacks on Mumbai, widely believed to have been carried out by Pakistani-based guerrillas.

The survey, which questioned some 13,500 respondents in 21 countries around the world, found that perceptions of Iran and Israel''s influence also became considerably more negative this year, the Daily Times reported.

Munich (dpa) - US President Barack Obama's desire to boost dialogue in the Middle East is "positive", but it must be followed with a complete change in US diplomacy, the speaker of Iran's parliament said Friday.

"In the last year, the US has burned many bridges. A new White House can rebuild them, but this requires new pragmatic strategies based on respect and fair play: the carrot and stick must be discarded," Ali Larijani told the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Karlsruhe, Germany - A 63-year-old German has been indicted for breaking export laws by selling 16 tons of rocket-building material to Iran, German federal prosecutors said Friday.

The high-grade graphite may have been used to make rocket nozzles.

To circumvent export checks, it was described as low-grade when it was sent to a Turkish intermediary between 2005 and 2007, the prosecutors in Karlsruhe said. Alert Turkish customs officers stopped another 10 tons being trucked into Iran.