A powerful earthquake struck close to Iran's only nuclear power station on Tuesday, killing 37 people and injuring 850 as it destroyed homes and devastated two small villages, Iranian media reporte

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) — a bank set up by 56 Islamic nations — has approved financial assistance worth $617 million (approximately Rs 54.16 billion) for development projects in differen

President Asif Ali Zardari is leaving for Tehran on Monday on a day-long visit to Iran to formally inaugurate Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project along with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rs 8,000-crore capacity expansion plan by Chennai Petroleum Corporation may get affected

Amid insurance woes, the US sanctions on Iran may well cast a shadow on expansion plans by Indian refiners. According to an official source, the Rs 8,000-crore capacity expansion plan by Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) may get hit as European companies are reluctant to give technology licensing for the upcoming six-million tonne units.

A consortium will start work next week on a much delayed $7.5 billion gas pipeline from Pakistan to Iran despite American warnings of possible sanctions, Pakistani officials said Friday.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding re-insurance for oil refineries over crude oil import from Iran, companies here are not perturbed yet about the United States’ sanctions in this regard. They said they believe the government would come out with a solution by June.

Hit largely by the sanctions are the country’s largest importer of Iranian crude oil, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals ( MRPL), a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), and Indian Oil’s ( IOC’s) Chennai Petroleum Corporation.

Iran is converting some of its higher-grade enriched uranium into reactor fuel, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Ever since the ban on Iranian oil imports by European Union nations came into effect in February 2012, Indians oil companies have gradually reduced their dependence on oil from the West Asian country and put in place alternative arrangements.

India aims to cut Iranian oil imports by around 15% every year from the current level of 15 million tonne, which itself is down 35% from the level in 2008-09. The country's largest buyer of Iran crude oil, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), has reduced imports from the country to 5 million tonne this fiscal from 6.2 million tonne in 2011-12.

New Delhi: Iran made a pitch on Friday for the extension of its gas pipeline with Pakistan to India with its visiting chief of the Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, saying that Tehran had the “best capacity” to provide security for the pipeline. Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Jalili was on a three -day visit to India during which he met his counterpart national security adviser Shivshankar Menon.

Apart from Iran’s nuclear power programme, the two sides also discussed regional issues like terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan as the Karzai administration pushes for its controversial Peace Process Roadmap with the Taliban.

Its healthcare system crippled by international economic sanctions, Iran has asked India for help to procure life-saving drugs for patients battling critical illnesses in that country.

Tehran has put in an urgent request to New Delhi for drugs to treat lung and breast cancers; brain tumours; heart ailments; infections after kidney, heart and pancreas transplants; meningitis in HIV patients; arthritis; bronchitis and respiratory distress in newborns; and epilepsy, South Block sources told The Indian Express.