Tehran  - Presidential candidate  might quit in favour of former prime minister Mir-Hossein Moussavi in Iran's presidential race on June 12, ILNA news agency reported Sunday.

Khatami, Iran's former president, would meet Moussavi later Sunday and it was expected that one of them might quit the race against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the report said.

The news agencies Fars and Mehr reported Sunday that Khatami had

already quit the race.

ILNA also reported that Khatami himself did not want to compete against his close aide Moussavi but the reformist factions wanted the moderate cleric to stay.

Tehran  - Iranian presidential candidate and former prime minister Mir-Hossein Moussavi on Saturday criticized the economic programmes of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and blamed him for not considering the hard times when the oil price was high.

"When we had a lot of foreign currency income (through oil exports), we did not plan anything for the (current) recession phase," said Moussavi in his first campaign speech in a mosque in the southern Tehran district Nazi Abad.

Tehran, Mar. 13: Iran beat the United States in a wrestling competition in Tehran on Thursday, the same day President Obama announced that the U. S. is extending sanctions against that nation for one more year.

Six U. S. wrestlers participated in the two-day Takhti Cup at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) sports complex, along with athletes from Cuba, Turkey and other nations.

The Iranians took ten of the competition's twelve medals.

"We made some pretty critical mistakes," U. S. head coach Zeke Jones.

"It is always a wonderful opportunity to compete with the Iranians. They are such a great wrestling country. It is one of the best tournaments in the world," he added.

Tehran - Turkish efforts to improve Tehran-Washington ties were dampened Wednesday when Iran's leader said that no change has yet been witnessed in the policies of US President Barack Obama.

"The US government is continuing its previous course and there are no signs indicating that the Americans would make up for their previous mistakes," Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told visiting Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

Tehran - Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Wednesday in Iran that member states of a regional economic grouping must help the global fight against terrorism.

Speaking at the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in Tehran, Gul also said the grouping could work together to help resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Turkey, together with Iran and Pakistan, founded the ECO in 1985.

Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan later joined the group.

Tehran  - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday opened a regional economic summit in Tehran and called on the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) to increase political and economic cooperation.

Iran, Pakistan and Turkey founded the ECO in 1985. Later Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan joined the group.

Ahmadinejad said the central Asian bloc should work harder to become an influential international organisation.