Iran's Khamenei aide denies comments on US talks

TEHRAN, Iran — American proposals for direct talks with Iran are pointless while Washington is “holding a gun” to the country through sanctions, Iran’s supreme leader said Thursday, quashing a possible breakthrough in contacts with the West over the nuclear standoff. The message from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all major decisions in Iran, was reiterated by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a news conference in Cairo later in the day.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected Thursday a US offer to negotiate one-on-one on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme so long as Washington continues to impose sanctions on Iran.

Iranian media on Monday scoffed at Hollywood's awarding of its top honour to Ben Affleck's Iran hostage drama "Argo", branding it a "political" win while poking fun at US first lady Michelle Obama's surprise appearance at the Oscar ceremony.

VIENNA, Austria — Senior UN investigators trying for more than a year to restart a probe into Iran’s alleged work on nuclear arms chose their words carefully Tuesday about hopes for success as they left for Tehran on a trip that sets the stage for separate talks between six world powers and the Islamic Republic. Iran insists it has never tried to develop nuclear arms — an assertion underlined by the Foreign Ministry in Tehran as the UN team of International Atomic Energy Agency experts prepared to board the flight bound for the Iranian capital.

TEHRAN, Iran — For eight years, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has played the role of global provocateur-in-chief: questioning the Holocaust, saying Israel should be erased from the map and painting UN resolutions as worthless. His provocative style grated inside Iran as well — angering the country’s supreme leader to the point of warning the presidency could be abolished.

Greek suppliers concerned about the potential default of Greece have shut off financing for oil. In turn this has caused Greece to turn to Iran. However, the EU is now threatening to impose more sanctions on Iran over nuclear issues. If the EU acts tat stupidly, the Greek economy will shut down.Please consider Greece turns to Iranian oil as default fears deter tradeNov 11, 2011

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is in Tehran on Monday to garner support for his premiership bid, as his chief rival Iyad Allawi accused Iran of meddling in Baghdad's political affairs.Maliki flew to Tehran from Amman and went straight into a series of meetings, including with Iran's first vice president Mohammad Reza Rahimi and with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to local media.State news agency IRNA also reported that the Iraqi leader was later Monday headed to the holy city of Qom.

An aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that if the Islamic republic is attacked, it will retaliate against the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv, official media reported on Sunday."If the enemy attacks Iran, our missiles will strike Tel Aviv," the official IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei's representative in the elite Revolutionary Guards, Mojhtaba Zolnoor, as saying late on Saturday.His comments came as Iranian air defence forces were set to carry out five days of manoeuvres involving simulated attacks on the country's nuclear facilities.