Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Gambia on Sunday for a 24-hour working visit aimed at fostering relations between the Islamic republic and the West African nation. Ahmadinejad was to hold talks with his Gambian counterpart Yahya Jammeh in the afternoon on economic and security issues, a source at the Gambian foreign ministry told AFP. From Banjul, the Iranian leader -- who last visited Gambia when it hosted an African Union summit in May 2006 -- was to proceed to Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela and Senegal. Prior to leaving Tehran, he said the countries he would visit on his five-day trip "have the ability to ... Read Full Story

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded on Thursday that world powers respect Iran and release its assets if they want to engage with Tehran, in an apparent reference to archfoe the United States. "If our nation sees they have changed their behaviour, dropped their arrogant attitude ... and return Iranian nation's rights and assets the nation will accept that," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech in the northern city of Tabriz. "But if they are again after deception and plotting in the region our nation's response will be the same as it gave to these men's predecessors," he warned. Hardline Ahmadinejad made the comments as US ... Read Full Story

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has no future, his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres said in an interview published on Sunday. Speaking during an official visit to Brazil -- the first by an Israeli president in 43 years -- Peres told the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia the hardline Iranian leader needed a more constructive attitude. Peres' South American trip is aimed at countering Iranian influence in the region and comes ahead of a visit to Brasilia by Ahmadinejad on November 23. "Of course we spoke a lot about Iran (during the visit)," Peres said, "(But) I do not think their president has a future." "It is ... Read Full Story

Iran's greatest master of traditional music, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, always avoided open clashes with his country's ruling hard-line clerics. So it was a bombshell when Shajarian — so revered that his audiences pelt him with roses — demanded state radio and TV stop broadcasting his music as a protest against the government. The state broadcaster complied. What pushed Shajarian into action was the government's brutal crackdown on protests over the June 12 election that Shajarian and millions of other Iranians believe fraudulently gave a second term to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "After what happened, I said 'no way' and threatened to file a complaint against ... Read Full Story

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The trial of a French teaching assistant who was arrested on spying charges following Iran's disputed election in June will resume on Tuesday, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on Sunday. Clotilde Reiss, who is out of jail on bail, has been accused of taking part in a Western plot to destabilize the Iranian government after the June 12 vote in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected. France has dismissed the charges as baseless and Reiss, arrested on July 1, has been staying in the French embassy in Tehran since her trial started on August 16, when she was put in ... Read Full Story