Iran’s supreme leader publicly rebuked the president over his removal of a top official, a rare show of discontent with the hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by the country’s most powerful figure.

Israel’s president charged Monday that Iran’s nuclear program threatens the United States, Europe and Arab nations, as well as Israel.

Iran’s embassy in Moscow says a Russian warship has freed eight Iranians who were seized along with suspected Somali pirates last week.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on a delicate mission, seeking to reassure long-term U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf region that efforts by Washington to reach out to Iran will not come at their expense.

Reporters Without Borders says the American journalist on a hunger strike for two weeks to protest her imprisonment in Iran was briefly hospitalized after she intensified her fast by refusing to drink water.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the United States wants to reassure Mideast allies about its diplomatic outreach to Iran, and says gains ultimately may not be possible.

An Iranian presidential candidate who is wanted by Interpol in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina said Sunday he is willing to cooperate with the U.S. on regional security matters if elected.

Iran’s foreign minister assured his visiting Japanese counterpart that the case of an American journalist imprisoned in Tehran for allegedly spying for the United States will get a fair review on appeal.

President Hugo Chavez met with a delegation from Iran on Saturday to prepare for an upcoming visit from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad _ an alliance that has provoked concern in Washington.

Hundreds of people supporting a U.S. journalist imprisoned in Iran have gathered for a vigil on a bridge connecting Fargo and Moorhead, Minn.