Iran, Middle East | featured news

After claiming to successfully test-fire two short-range missiles during drills Sunday by the elite Revolutionary Guard, Iran will test-fire a missile on Monday that could have the capability to hit Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf region.

U.S. President Barack Obama accused Iran on Friday of building a secret nuclear fuel plant for several years and demanded that Tehran comply with international rules on nuclear nonproliferation.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed on Wednesday that serious additional sanctions must be considered if Iran does not respond to proposals to end a nuclear standoff.

Iran's output of enriched uranium is stagnating, diplomats said Tuesday, suggesting the country may be running short the material needed for producing nuclear fuel or the fissile core of warheads.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he would nominate three women for his new Cabinet, which could mean the first female Iranian ministers in over 30 years.

The parliament speaker says a commission found no evidence of sexual assault.

A day after vowing to investigate allegations that election protesters were sexually abused in Iran's prisons, the parliament speaker dismissed the charges as false.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday he could not confirm whether three Americans had been detained by Iran.

Travel warnings from the U.S. Department of State didn't stop Faith Hentschel, 65, from venturing to Iran this May to visit the rustic sites in ancient Persepolis and the colorful bazaars in Tehran.

Iran's Supreme Leader endorsed the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a ceremony boycotted by leading moderates in protest at a disputed poll that plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Defendants, who include prominent politicians and activists, are accused of rioting and conspiring to topple ruling regime with support from U.S.