Tehran - Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) tested a new ground-to-ground missile, state news agency IRNA reported Wednesday.

IRNA quoted Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najar as saying that the new generation of the Sejil-type missiles was successfully tested.

The new missile burns combined solid fuel and is supposed to be just preventive, the minister said without giving any details on time and venue of the test nor the range of the missile.

Tehran - Tehran is waiting for US president-elect Barack Obama to put into practice his "Yes We Can" slogan, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said in a press briefing Monday.

The spokesman said that Tehran would reply favourably to any change of policy by Washington towards Iran.

For the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution, an Iranian president sent a congratulation message to his American counterpart on his success in the presidential race.

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to meet Sunday afternoon in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The meeting is expected to discuss the latest developments in the Iranian nuclear programme and security in the Gulf.

Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy and security chief, said Saturday evening that he would join the meeting.

Both Rice and Solana are in Sharm el-Sheikh for an international meeting on Middle East peace.

Tehran - Iran said European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana asked for continuation of talks with Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme, official news agency IRNA reported on Friday

"Solana, in a letter sent to Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on Thursday, has emphasized the six countries (the five UN veto powers and Germany) are still committed to find a diplomatic solution for the disputed issue," the report said citing a statement released by Jalili's office.

Washington - The United States has moved to cut off all Iranian transactions routed through US banks to further tighten sanctions over the Islamic state's nuclear and other illicit activities, the US Treasury Department announced Thursday.

Iranian banks and other institutions could previously send transactions through US banks as long as they were initiated by a non-Iranian or American bank outside the US and ended in a non- Iranian or American bank outside the US.

Tehran - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, in a rare move, congratulated the US president-elect Barack Obama on his success in the recent US presidential race.

"Mr Barack Obama, the president-elect of the United States of America, I congratulate you for being able to attract the majority of votes in the elections," said Ahmadinejad at the start of the message address to to the next president of the country which happens to be Iran's arch-foe.