TEHRAN, Dec. 5  -- Claims made by the United Arab Emirates that were anti-Iranian in nature were ill-advised, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Friday.

The Iranian official slammed the Arab federation for supporting the policies of the United States and Britain regarding Iran, the Islamic Republic News Agency said.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5  -- U. S. President George Bush reiterated Friday his pledge that the United States would not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

"We have made our bottom-line clear. For the safety of our people and the peace of the world, America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said in remarks prepared for the Saban Forum in Washington.

Bush said he looks forward to "a Middle East where our friends are strengthened and the extremists are discredited, where economies are open and prosperity is widespread, and where all people enjoy the life of liberty ... ."

Tehran - The formation of the new US cabinet was in no way compatible with president-elect Barack Obama's slogan of change, state-run Iranian television network IRIB said in a commentary on Tuesday.

The network said that appointing Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and keeping Robert Gates as defence secretary had nothing to do with change but was continuing the same policies as the current US administration.

Calling the two warmongers, IRIB said that Clinton voted in favour of the military strike against Iraq and no changes could be expected in Iraq under Gates as defence secretary.

Nicosia, Dec. 2 : Gholamreza Agazadeh, the Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, speaking at a conference in Tehran on Sunday proposed developing light-water nuclear plants jointly with neighboring Gulf Cooperation Council states.

“ Iran is ready to provide very soon a comprehensive plan for the proposal, if it were approved in principle by the Persian Gulf littoral states,” Agazadeh said in the course of an international seminar on nuclear plants and environmental issues.

Tehran - Iran primarily invests in education to combat AIDS, Iranian Health Minister Kamran Baqeri-Lankrani said Monday on the occasion of World AIDS day.

Iran puts priority on public education by cultural and religious figures to fight the disease, the minister said in a speech carried by ISNA news agency.

Baqeri-Lankrani said parents were being educated to pass on all necessary information on AIDS to their children.

Tehran  - Iran's government does not take military threats made by Israel seriously, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Monday.

"The global and regional situation and especially the confusion inside the Zionist regime (Israel) itself do not give military strikes any serious ground," he told reporters in Tehran.

Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last month that Iran was still trying to acquire nuclear weapons and Israel and the world must make an effort to prevent it from doing so.

"This is just a form of psychological war," Ghashghavi said.

The spokesman added that Iran's armed forces were fully prepared to confront any military aggression against the nation.