Revolutionary Guard

Iraq has freed a Hezbollah member accused of plotting to kill five US soldiers in a move that has triggered anger in the United States, US and Iraqi officials said on Friday.

Iran on Monday launched an air defence exercise a general said was aimed at optimising its deterrent capabilities as well as sending a "strong warning" to those threatening it with military strikes.

Iran warned on Sunday it will react strongly against any US intrusion into its airspace after two of its warplanes fired at an American drone 10 days ago, the ISNA news agency reported.

Iran warned on Sunday it will react strongly against any US intrusion into its airspace after two of its warplanes fired at an American drone 10 days ago, the ISNA news agency reported.

Iran's defence minister confirmed on Friday a Pentagon claim that two Iranian fighter jets fired on an unarmed US Predator drone in the Gulf last week.

A top Iranian military official implicitly confirmed on Friday a Pentagon claim that two Iranian fighter jets fired on an unarmed US Predator drone in the Gulf last week.

Washington unveiled sanctions Thursday against top Iranians and national bodies, including the communications minister and the culture ministry, hitting back for media and Internet censorship.

Thousands of Iranians chanting "Death to America" burnt US flags on Friday to mark the 33rd anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran, just days before the American presidential election.

Iran insisted on Wednesday that it had obtained images of sensitive areas of Israel from a Hezbollah drone before it was shot down, despite the Jewish state questioning if the aircraft carried a camera.

Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday rejected a guilty plea by an Iranian-American man that he conspired with Iranian officials to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington.

Former car salesman Manssor Arbabsiar pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring with the Iranian military to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States in a plot as lurid as any airport thriller.

Iranian-American citizen Manssor Arbabsiar pleaded guilty on Wednesday to plotting with the Iranian military to kill the Saudi ambassador to United States.

Three Iranian border guards were killed in clashes with armed drug traffickers near the border with Pakistan, Iranian media reported on Thursday, citing a border official.

Forty-eight Iranians held hostage by rebels in Syria and threatened with execution were in "good health," Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Wednesday.

Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday appealed for the release of 48 of its citizens held hostage by rebels in Syria and threatened with execution one by one unless Syria's army withdraws from an area in Damascus province.

Rebel fighters will execute dozens of Iranians they kidnapped in August unless Syria's army withdraws from the embattled Eastern Ghuta area of Damascus province, a rebel commander said on Friday.

The Syrian regime has moved some chemical weapons to safeguard the material as it wages war against rebel forces but the main storage sites for its arsenal remain secure, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday.

Israel's threats of military action against Iran over its nuclear programme only serve to boost the defiance of the Islamic republic, the head of the Revolutionary Guards said on Friday.

A top aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who heads Iran's official IRNA news agency, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, was arrested and jailed on Wednesday, IRNA reported.

French President Francois Hollande declared on Tuesday that Iran's material support of Bashar al-Assad's regime amounted to an unacceptable interference in Syria's bloody civil war.