WASHINGTON - In a significant policy shift propelled by the war on terrorism, the Bush administration has effectively ruled out a rapprochement with the government of Iran - while voicing support for popular opposition to the Tehran regime. ... more

IBEIRUT, LEBANON - A heated diplomatic campaign waged by the United States and Israel against Iran and its Lebanese protégé, Hizbullah, could have an unintended and potentially destabilizing backlash. ... more

US President George W. Bush's new allegations against Iran and the increased powers of the Republican Party hint at the speedy pace of globalization under the pretext of the anti-terrorism drive. ... more

IRAN EXPRESSED surprise yesterday at Britain's furious reaction to its rejection of David Reddaway as the new British ambassador to Tehran. The Government swiftly downgraded the status of the Iranian diplomatic representation to the level of charge d'affaires after saying on Thursday that the decision by Tehran would inevitably affect relations. ... more

Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's influential former president, told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran university that a US military adventure would plunge Washington into a quagmire that "contains blood". ... more

The Expediency Council has called on the courageous and committed people of Islamic Iran to take part extensively in the historic rallies of 22 Bahman [11 February, marking the anniversary of the revolution]. ... more

LONDON Iran has turned down Britain's choice of ambassador to Tehran after hard-line newspapers there accused him of being "a Jew and a member of MI6," the British intelligence agency. ... more

For some time now, the debate about the demands of the revered teachers of the country has become the centre of attention for political circles and forums. ... more

Iran defended its "natural right" to refuse Britain's choice of ambassador yesterday as the row threatened to destroy Britain's carefully restored links with Tehran. ... more

Al-Qaeda has neither sought refuge in Lebanon, nor has it sent activists to shelter here, Hizbullah's secretary-general said Friday as domestic outrage mounted over Israeli and US allegations linking the country to the terrorist network of Osama bin Laden. ... more

LONDON -- The European Union's commissioner in charge of international relations said the United States appeared to be taking a simplistic approach to the rest of the world, a British newspaper reported Saturday. Branding Iraq, Iran and North Korea an "axis of evil," as President Bush has, was "deeply unhelpful," Chris Patten is quoted as saying in an interview with The Guardian. Patten, Britain's last governor of Hong Kong and now EU commissioner for external affairs, was asked if he thought Washington was aware of the argument that the West has to be "tough on the causes of terrorism" -- that it is important, through development assistance, to prevent states failing in the first place. "I don't know," Patten was quoted as saying, "but I think it's very dangerous when you start taking up absolutist positions and simplistic positions." ... more

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) --A top Revolutionary Guards commander has warned that his forces will destroy Persian Gulf oil fields if the United States threatens Iran. The deputy commander of the guards, Sardar Zolghadr, made the statement in an interview with an Iranian television channel, according to press reports here Saturday. ... more

BRITAIN was engaged in a tit-for-tat diplomatic row with Iran yesterday after Tehran refused to recognise the appointment of the United Kingdom's new ambassador. ... more

WASHINGTON -- The Taliban foreign minister turned himself in to officials in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday, becoming the highest-ranking such official to do so, a U.S. defense official said. ... more

Every once in a while we witness the publication of news regarding the shocking confessions of certain individuals on the political scene that for a period of time raise certain questions in the minds of the public; however, a denial by these individuals or their claim that the confessions were under psychological and physical duress, before answering the previous questions in the public mind, raises another question. We have even witnessed this issue in the past years in regard to defendants in the courts. ... more

A noticeable feature of the Middle East landscape is that the non-Arab countries on the periphery tend to be much more nervous about each other than about the mostly stagnant Arab countries caught in the middle. ... more