U.S. President George W. Bush urged Vladimir Putin on Monday to help keep the pressure on Iran after the Russian leader voiced skepticism about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The White House insisted Monday it was still committed to diplomacy with Iran, despite ominous comments from the US president and vice president attacking the Islamic republic's nuclear drive.
Iran's new nuclear negotiator steps onto the international stage for the first time on Tuesday at a meeting where Western diplomats will try to gauge whether Tehran has hardened its stance on its atomic program.
President Bush on Monday prodded Russian President Vladimir Putin to press Iran, through the United Nations, to suspend its nuclear enrichment work in a way that can be verified by the international community.
Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd's campaign said Monday that Hillary Rodham Clinton is misstating the facts when she argues that she voted to step up diplomacy with Iran.
Deadly raids into Turkey by Kurdish militants in northern Iraq are the focus of diplomacy by U.S. and Iraqi officials. But a similar battle has been underway on the Iraqi border with Iran.
The White House insisted Monday it was still committed to diplomacy with Iran, despite menacing comments from the US president and vice president attacking the Islamic republic's nuclear drive.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday praised growing economic and political cooperation with Armenia, shoring up closer ties with the ex-Soviet republic on Iran's northern border.
Iran will not abandon its right to nuclear technology despite the threat of more sanctions, it told France in a letter published on Monday, a day before talks to try to defuse its row with the West.
Iran would need another three to eight years to make a nuclear bomb, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in an interview published on Monday, warning against any rush to use force to curb its nuclear ambitions.