A judge in Iran has started sentencing criminals to buy and read books instead of handing down prison terms.

Saudi Arabia says it is happy with President Obama's assurances that the recent nuclear deal with Iran will not imperil the Gulf states.

Iran is eyeing wider trade cooperation with Bangladesh especially in energy sector as the sanctions imposed on Iran are set to be withdrawn.

China is set to reap the windfall of the post-nuclear deal scenario with Iran. Indeed if one looks at Chinese engagement with Iran during the standoff between Washington and Tehran over the last few years, it is understandable why Beijing threw its weight behind a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue.

Britain will reopen its embassy in Tehran during a visit to Iran by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond due to start on Sunday.

At least 76 people were killed and 212 wounded today in a blast claimed by Islamic State in Baghdad's Sadr City, police and medical.

Critics of the upcoming accord have pointed out that Iran will not play by the rules and may continue a covert programme for uranium enrichment outside designated nuclear facilities covered under the agreement.

Bridging the gap between Iran and the West would help soften Iran's present voice against Israel through a possible political and social transformation in favour of the West.

The only thing to lament about the agreement reached by Iran and the P5+1 (the UN Security Council's five permanent members – China, Britain, France, Russia, and the United States – plus Germany) in Vienna this month is that it was not signed and sealed a decade ago.

The US Congress has 60 days to review the agreement. During that time, President Obama cannot lift the sanctions.

After the marathon 18-day Vienna talks a historic deal was signed on Tuesday between Iran and six global powers -- the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

A deal on limiting Iran's nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions has been reached at talks in Vienna, diplomats say.

World powers race to clinch a landmark deal to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear bomb, with a source close to the marathon talks saying an agreement was "98-percent" completed.

The weather is sultry and tempers are fraying during tense negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme - one particularly testy exchange sparked a rash of social media messages and memes.

Not long after staging a cartoon contest satirizing the Holocaust, a group in Iran launched another event — this time, aimed at the Islamic State extremist group.

Seventy Afghan and Iraqi migrants have been rescued from a packed boat off the southeastern coast of Italy and brought to shore on Sunday

Fresh efforts to revive peace talks on Syria is due to begin in Geneva.

THE airstrikes undertaken by a Saudi-led coalition against targets in Yemen may usher a new phase in one of the longest, most destructive, and most confused conflicts to affect the Middle East and much of the Muslim world: the Saudi-Iranian confrontation.

Iran's foreign minister calls for "urgent humanitarian assistance" in Yemen after a Saudi-led coalition ended air strikes against Houthi rebels.

Australia and Iran agrees to share intelligence about Australians fighting with militant groups in Iraq.