Tehran- Iran on Monday did not rule out using force to free its cargo vessel which was last week hijacked by pirates off the Somalia coast.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Monday that Iran would rather continue negotiations with the pirates.

He said in a press briefing that Iran preferred the problem to be settled through an international cooperation, including maritime groups, the United Nations and countries involved in the case.

But he added that other options were also possible.

Tehran  - In initial reaction to the latest report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Iran's nuclear activities, Tehran said Wednesday it had no problems with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection of its nuclear sites as long as they are made within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"We have enabled the IAEA access to our nuclear sites in line with NPT and the accord with the IAEA and the same trend will also be continued in the future," Mohammad Saeidi, the deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Organization, told the official news agency IRNA.

Tehran - US military forces should leave Iraq earlier than
scheduled in the new security pact between the two countries, Iran's
Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Tuesday.

"According to the pact, the US forces would leave Iraq until 2011
but considering the capability of the Iraqi government (to run the
country by itself), the withdrawal of the US forces should be made
sooner," the speaker said.

"The proposal by the newly elected US president (Barack Obama) to
withdraw the forces within 16 months is more suitable," Larijani added.

Tehran - Iran is to hold a conference to review the victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential elections and its impact on Tehran-Washington relations, the website of news network Press TV reported Monday.

One of the featured speakers will be Iran's former ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad-Javad Zarif, who is considered a US expert, the report said.

It said Obama's pledge to hold unconditional talks with Iran has brought hope of change in Iran-US ties after almost three decades of diplomatic estrangement.

Tehran, Nov 17: Iranian and Italian archeologists have found clues about the daily life of people living near Persepolis in Iran during the Achaemenid Dynasty.

The world-renowned historic city of Persepolis is located 70 kilometers northeast of the city of Shiraz in Iran’s southern province of Fars.

According to a report by Press TV, a detailed scientific study into the daily life of ordinary people living near Persepolis has been carried out for the first time, revealing that the area has been permanently occupied since the Achaemenid era.

Tehran - Iran has condemned Thursday's kidnapping of an Iranian diplomat in north-western Pakistan, ISNA news agency reported.

"This has been a terrorist act which we harshly condemn," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashgavi said.

Gunmen ambushed a car carrying commercial attache Hashmat Atharzadeh and seized the diplomat who was travelling to the Iranian consulate in Peshawar, the capital of the troubled North West Frontier Province.

Police in Pakistan said the kidnappers intercepted the vehicle in the upscale Hayatabad neighbourhood and shot dead a police guard.