AFP: Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was a prisoner in US custody for “sometime” before he was killed by the American military, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday.

AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he has temporarily assumed the duties of the oil ministry, as the oil cartel OPEC prepares for a biannual meeting in Vienna.

Iran Focus: Tehran, May 16 – Iran’s Deputy Interior Minister met with Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad on Sunday to discuss mutual security issues including border control, the state-run news agency Fars reported.

AFP: Thousands of Islamic militiamen loyal to Iran’s rulers have staged exercises for deployment against protesters in the event of any anti-regime demonstrations, a reformist daily reported on Saturday.

AP: Iran threatened Saturday to allow the transit of illegal drugs through its territory to Europe if the West continues to criticize the Islamic nation for its practice of executing drug traffickers.

AP: The spiritual mentor of Iran’s president has harshly criticized him for his role in an internal power struggle that has split the country’s hard-liners, indicating that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s own support base is badly fraying.

Reuters: North Korea and Iran appear to have been regularly exchanging ballistic missile technology in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to a confidential United Nations report obtained by Reuters on Saturday.

AFP: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been put “under a spell” by his chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, an ultra-conservative cleric was quoted by local media on Sunday as saying.