Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is due to meet his US counterpart George W. Bush on Monday to discuss the release of an Iranian businessman and advisor to the governor general of Iran’s Kermanshah province who was arrested by the US troops in Iraq earlier this month.

The United States is seeking to attain its interests through disintegrating Iraq, a member of the Iranian parliament’s majority fraction said here on Sunday.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega appreciated the medical aids and assistance by Iran’s Red Crescent Society to the people of his country during the recent rainstorms which killed and wounded a large number of Nicaraguans.

British consultant engineers are waiting for the approval of the Iranian road and transportation ministry to participate in the giant project for the construction of Tehran-North Highway, an informed source said.

The strong stances voiced by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to New York thwarted the United States’ attempts to pass a new resolution at the UN Security Council against Iran, a prominent Iranian MP said.

Iran’s Small Industries and Industrial Townships Organization signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Afghanistan’s Trade and Industries Ministry on economic cooperation.

An Iranian state institution gifted 100 volumes of books on the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan to the library of Columbia University.

When we come to national interests, all of us stand united against hegemonic actions, Iranian parliament speaker said, reminding the US and its allies not to count on partial differences existing between the minority and majority fractions at the Iranian parliament.

Iran’s Shahram Nazeri is receiving the French Chevalier des Arts et Lettres medal for his achievements in traditional Persian music.

Non-oil trade between Iran and Thailand grew to $410 million in the first half of this year, up 75 per cent over the comparable 2006 figure of $234.60m, the Iranian ambassador to Thailand said on Saturday.