Tehran - Any pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme would be futile, the official ISNA news agency quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying on Thursday.

"No power in the world could threaten the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with clerics during a visit to the south-western province of Khuzestan.

Western nations, led by the United States, accuse the Islamic republic of pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons programme, a charge Iran denies.

Washington - The US government moved Wednesday to seize the assets of a New York firm accused of operating as a front for an Iranian bank already under sanctions.

The Treasury Department said ASSA Corp in New York and its parent company ASSA Co Ltd in the Channel Islands were working or controlled by Iranian state-run Bank Melli, which has allegedly provided financial support to Iran's nuclear activities.

Washington, Dec 17 : The development of nuclear arsenals by both Iran and North Korea could lead to "a cascade of proliferation," making it more probable that terrorists could get their hands on an atomic weapon, a congressionally chartered commission has warned.

"It appears that we are at a tipping point in proliferation," the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States said in an interim report to lawmakers that was released yesterday.

New Delhi, Dec 17 : India and Iran will hold talks on the proposed 7.4 billion dollar Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project here today.

The two sides are expected to discuss ways to break the deadlock over the project during a high-level meeting.

The Foreign Office Consultations are also expected to deliberate on ways to step up cooperation in various other fields.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon will lead the Indian delegation while the Iranian side will be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzadeh.

Earlier, both sides had decided to set up a trilateral Ministerial mechanism to resolve various issues related to the project.

Tehran - It was not the best of years for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

As 2008 drew to a close, the president had yet to realize his promised reforms, and Iran once again faced growing inflation at home and increasing isolation abroad.

The country's economic problems, with inflation soaring beyond 30 per cent, served to increase the number of Ahmadinejad's critics, even among the conservatives who once supported the president.

Widespread criticism led to the formation of a "neo-conservative" faction which won parliamentary elections and appointed Ali Larijani as its leader and speaker of the legislature.

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that he was not interested in meeting his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.

"One of the European heads of states who tries to show off as world power and talk like Pharaohs recently said that he would not talk to and shake hands with someone who said that the Zionist regime (Israel) should be eliminated," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Ahvaz, south-western Iran.

He was referring to Sarkozy's remarks that he would neither offer his hand to or share a table with him because of Ahmadinejad's antipathy toward Israel.