AFP: The United States has no plans to attack Iran and its beefed-up naval presence in the Gulf region is meant to keep the area peaceful, the chief of US naval operations said Monday.

AFP: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Jordan on Monday at the start of a Middle East tour which American officials said is aimed at countering Iran’s growing influence in the region.

AFP: Britain’s Defence Secretary Des Browne, facing calls for his resignation, apologised in parliament Monday for a decision to allow 15 sailors captured by Iran to sell their stories.

Reuters: The United States has sought information for the third time in a month from Tehran about the whereabouts of a missing former FBI agent believed to be in Iran, the State Department said on Monday.

AKI: Most schools in northwestern Iran remained closed on Monday due to a teachers’ strike to protest against the arrest of dozens of their colleagues in the past few days. The two-day protest which started Sunday was almost unanimous in the northwestern Kurdish cities of Sagghez, Marivan, Sanandaj and Bukan.

AFP: Iran on Monday pardoned two Swedish nationals jailed for photographing military installations last year and will release them later in the day, the foreign ministry said.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Apr. 16 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed Mohammad-Hassan Qadiri Abyaneh as the Islamic Republic’s new ambassador to Mexico, the official news agency IRNA reported on Monday.