German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday the time was nearing for sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, as Tehran has rejected Western efforts to find a negotiated solution. Speaking to reporters after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Merkel said: "I made clear that we are coming to the phase where there should be sanctions against Iran." "Iran ...

Iran's parliament on Monday gave its final approval to a 368-billion-dollar budget for the year to March 2011, a week after it had cut the outlay by 20 billion dollars, state media reported. The final budget outlay for the year ahead is what was originally proposed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But last week MPs passed a 347-billion-dollar budget by ...

One of Osama bin Laden's sons has called on Iran's supreme leader to release members of his family believed to be under house arrest there since they fled Afghanistan in 2001, according to a letter posted Monday on the Internet ...

Iran's hard-line government says the country's largest pro-reform political party has been banned as part of the crackdown on the opposition. Deputy Interior Minister Solat Mortazavi says the party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, had its authorization to conduct political activity stripped by ...