AFP: Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation on Tuesday tasked six local companies to hunt for potential sites for new nuclear power plants, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 19 – A senior official from the United Nations nuclear watchdog is holding talks with Iranian officials in Tehran.

AP: Iran should not give Western nations the justification to "drag the region down a dangerous slope" by its lack of transparency and flexibility in the conflict over its nuclear program, Egypt's presidential spokesman said Saturday.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 14 - Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki held telephone conversations on Wednesday with his Chinese, German, and Russian counterparts.

AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday sounded an upbeat note on talks with Western powers on Tehran's contested nuclear programme, saying they were going in the "right direction."

Reuters: Iran's chief atomic negotiator and the man representing six world powers discussed Tehran's nuclear programme in telephone talks on Monday but an EU official said there was no change in the dispute.

Reuters: Iran will not back down on its nuclear stance despite the threat of tighter sanctions, Iranian media quoted a government spokesman as saying on Sunday.

AP: Iran's official news agency is quoting a government spokesman as saying the country is "ready to confront sanctions" over its disputed nuclear program.

Reuters: U.S.-allied Kuwait urged Iran on Saturday to resolve tensions with the West over its nuclear programme, saying the dispute undermined the interests of Gulf states with which it shares a vital oil export route.

AFP: Iran's government has ordered the state oil company to deposit oil revenues only in selected banks in a bid to dodge toughening sanctions over its nuclear drive, local media reported on Saturday.