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Letting Iran have nuclear arms "unforgivable"-Bush
May 15 - U.S. President George W. Bush will tell Israel's parliament on Thursday that letting Iran acquire nuclear weapons would be an "unforgivable betrayal of future generations".
"America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions," Bush will tell Israeli legislators on the second day of his visit to the Jewish state, according to an advance copy of a speech he was due to deliver later in the day.
In his speech to the Knesset, he planned to hammer home his view that democracy could prevail against extremism in the Middle East, where he has struggled to push his "freedom agenda".
His strongest criticism will be aimed at Iran, Israel's main foe in the region.
"Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon," Bush will say./-
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Central bank chief at odds with Ahmadinejad
May 15 - The head of Iran's central bank is at loggerheads with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over interest rates, the local press reported on Thursday, the latest criticism of his economic policies.
Central Bank of Iran governor Tahmasb Mazaheri has lashed out at Ahmadinejad's decision announced on Tuesday to arbitrarily set bank rates at between 10 and 12 percent, well below inflation.
And there are rumours that Mazaheri would resign because of the row, following on the departure of former economy minister in April who had protested at "unscientific" government policies.
"The 10 percent interest rate cannot be imposed," Mazaheri was quoted as saying by the Sarmayeh newspaper. "We hold a different position to the president."/-
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Iran-IAEA nuclear talks in Tehran finished without any new results
May 15 - Iran and a delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) finished their three-day talks in Tehran without reaching any new results, Iran's IAEA envoy Ali-Asqar Soltanieh told ISNA news agency Thursday.
This round of talks was held between Soltanieh and IAEA regional chief Herman Nackaerts at Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.
"Nothing new was raised and decided," Soltanieh told ISNA.
An IAEA delegation headed by chief inspector Olli Heinonen visited Tehran twice last month and discussed allegations that Iran pursued secret weapons studies. This week's visit is expected to have focused on the same issue.
Soltanieh doubted that the IAEA officials would want to hold more sessions in Tehran but declared Iran's readiness for further talks./-
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Iran says reviewing oil output, no decision yet
May 13 - Iran is reviewing its crude output but no decision has been taken yet on any changes, Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said on Tuesday following a report it planned cuts of up to 1 million barrels per day (bpd).
Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency had quoted an informed source as saying the world's fourth-largest oil producer would start reducing output next month, probably by 400,000 to 1 million barrels per day, "in line with preventing selling of crude."
Asked about the report, an official at the Oil Ministry's public relations office told Reuters: "The oil minister said that Iran is reviewing its crude output but reports on any decision are not correct."
"No decision has been taken yet," he quoted Nozari as saying./-
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