Tehran - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that Iran should not be afraid of political challenges, Western ballyhoos or dangers.

"Political challenges are natural and just reflect the forward trend of our Islamic system," the Ayatollah told foreign ministry officials, including Iranian diplomats abroad.

"We should therefore not be afraid of ballyhoos by the West and dangers, the foreign ministry should act with both courage and wisdom," said Khamenei, who according to the Iranian constitution has the final say on all state matters.

Tehran - Iran will compete against Israel at the Olympic Games for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Tehran media reported Saturday.

Iranian athletes have always rejected competing alongside Israelis as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians and therefore faced disqualification on several occasions in international sport.

Iran does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state and has in the last three decades followed a hostile approach towards the Israeli government.

Brussels - The European Union on Friday brought into force the latest round of UN sanctions on Iran in the dispute over its nuclear programme.

An announcement published in the EU's official journal ordered the bloc's 27 member states not to enter into new commitments for grants, financial assistance and concessional loans to the Iranian government, but to continuously monitor the dealings of their own banks with Iranian institutions, especially Bank Saderat.

It also mandated member states to inspect cargoes carried by Iran Air Cargo and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line, as long as there are "reasonable grounds" for suspecting that they are carrying nuclear-related cargoes.

Tehran- Talks between Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog started in Tehran Thursday, state media reported.

The chief inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Oli Heinonen, and officials of the Iranian Atomic Organization, headed by Vice President Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh are to discuss the remaining ambiguities in Tehran's nuclear projects and the course of future cooperation.

Tehran - Iran has presented its reply to an offer by world powers to resolve the dispute over its nuclear activities, Fars news agency reported Tuesday.

The reply was delivered to European Union officials by the Iranian ambassador to Brussels, Fars said without giving further details.

The offer by the five United Nations veto powers plus Germany is for far-reaching economic cooperation with Iran, including the field of civilian-sector nuclear power, in return for a pledge by Tehran to refrain from uranium enrichment activities.

On Monday, the United States warned that Iran would face new Security Council sanctions if it did not accept the offer of fresh talks and incentives.

Tehran  - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said that no deadline had been set for Iran by world powers regarding the ongoing dispute over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, Tehran media reported Thursday.

"The terminology of deadline is not clear us as we have presented the world powers our standpoints and now await their view," Mottaki was quoted as saying by official news agency IRNA.

Washington had following talks in Geneva on July 19 between Iran and the five UN veto powers plus Germany (5+1) said that Tehran had two weeks to respond to the latest package aimed at resolving the nuclear dispute. That deadline is due to expire on Saturday.