EU renews pressure over Iran

    BRUSSELS, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The European Union on Monday renewed its pressure over Iran, calling for firmness in support of further sanctions against Tehran while leaving the door open for negotiation.

    "Iran has failed to suspend all enrichment and enrichment-related activities" as required by the United Nations Security Council, the 27-nation bloc's foreign ministers, who convened in Brussels today, said in a statement.

Expert: Air strikes increase Iran's atomic bomb making

    BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Air strikes on Iran to destroy nuclear facilities could speed up the Tehran regime's drive to obtain atomic bomb and bolstering hostility towards the West, a British leading weapons scientist warned on Monday.

    Frank Barnaby, who formerly worked at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, said Iran could respond to an attack by launching a "crash programme" to build a crude nuclear device within months.

Iran says ready to talk over nuclear issue without preconditions

    TEHRAN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said on Sunday that Iran was ready to hold talks with five UN Security Council members plus Germany on its nuclear issue with no preconditions.

    Hosseini made the remarks when answering a question at his weekly press conference on whether an upcoming security meeting in Baghdad would open doors to negotiations, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Iran asks for observer status in SAARC

    TEHRAN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Iran has formally requested for an observer status in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.

    A formal letter in this regard has been handed over this week to SAARC Secretary-General Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji by Rasool Islami, Director-General for West Asia Affairs of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.