US defense officials have signaled that up-to-date attack plans are available if needed in the escalating crisis over Iran’s nuclear aims, although no strike appears imminent, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in Malawi that Tehran has the political will to boost its ties with African countries, IRNA reported. 

China urged Iran to heed rising international worry about its nuclear ambitions, saying Beijing would seek to work with Europe and the United Nations to defuse the crisis but holding its tongue on any new sanctions, Reuters reported. 

Turkish President Abdullah Gul attended Turkey-Azerbaijan Business Forum in Baku on Wednesday. Speaking at the business forum, Gul said Turkey had recorded important economic progress in the recent years and become the 6th biggest economy of Europe.

The World Bank has suspended 5,4 mln dollars’ worth of aid scheduled for projects in Iran because of US financial sanctions against the Islamic republic, a senior bank official said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. 

A Yemeni court convicted Wednesday 32 al-Qaida suspects of planning attacks on oil and gas installations in the country, sentencing them to prison terms of up to 15 years. Four others were acquitted.Six of those convicted remain at large and were tried in absentia.

Interpol rejected a request by Iran to drop arrest warrants against five leading Iranians, wanted by Argentina for their alleged role in a 1994 bombing that killed 85 people, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s announcement Wednesday that Iran had 3,000 working centrifuges raised fears in Washington that Israel would respond to the statement with a preemptive military strike, the Times reported Thursday. 

Iran is ready to promote economic cooperation with Asian states, particularly in energy field, first Deputy Foreign Minister Ali-Reza Sheikh Attar said on Thursday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad-Ali Hosseini condemned as an “unprincipled” act a recent decision by the Interpol on refusing to drop charges against a number of Iranians for their alleged involvement in a 1994 bombing in Argentina.