Tehran - Tehran on Tuesday issued a reserved response to remarks by US President Barack Obama that his administration would be willing to engage in diplomacy with Iran on its controversial nuclear programme.

Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said Iran would rather wait for "practical changes" by the new US government and expected a change in US policies towards Iran including a moving away from "imperialistic" policies.

US President Obama on Monday said "if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us."

Brussels - Several thousand supporters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) gathered in Brussels' European quarter Tuesday to celebrate the European Union's removal of the group from its list of terrorist organizations.

Campaigners waving yellow balloons also called for the group's formal political recognition in the aftermath of the EU decision.

"Being listed on the terrorism list was a catastrophe. Now we want to be be rehabilitated by the EU and be recognized as an opposition group," Javad Dabiran, an organizer based in Germany, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Tehran - Tehran summoned the head of the Egyptian interest section to protest what it said was Cairo's obstruction in getting Iranian aid to the Gaza Strip, the official news agency IRNA reported Tuesday.

An Iranian foreign ministry official said Cairo has still not issued the necessary permission for an Iranian ship carrying aid for Gaza to anchor in Egypt.

Tehran reportedly told the Egyptian envoy that while the blocking of the Iranian aid ship by Israel was predictable, Egypt's rejection was "not justifiable at all."

Tehran  - Following a dispute between the Iranian Football Federation (FFI) and a popular television presenter, football fans on Monday night voted in favour of the presenter in a text message survey.

Adel Ferdowsipour, the country's most famous football commentator and presenter of the popular football programme 90, got into a dispute with the FFI earlier this month after he made critical remarks about the federation's inefficiency in managing the football affairs.

The Chandigarh-based Venus Remedies’ manufacturing facilities at Baddi Campus has secured Good Manufacturing Practices certificate from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran which will enable the Company to export its products to Iranian market.

Technical analysts believe that this is a major breakthrough for the Company as Iran holds a significant share in Middle Eastern Pharmaceutical market and would open door to other Middle Eastern Markets as well.

Tehran - Eleven convicted murderers were hanged Wednesday in Tehran,