Paris - France on Tuesday joined the United States in calling for additional sanctions against Iran after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Monday that Teheran was continuing to expand its uranium enrichment programme.

"We have no other choice but to draw up another UN Security Council resolution on sanctions in the coming days and weeks," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevalier said.

Chevalier described as "very worrying" the fact that Iranian authorities had not replied to questions regarding matters that could be related to the development of nuclear weapons.

Tehran  - The West considers the latest report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Iran's nuclear activities as another reason to impose new financial sanctions on the Islamic state.

Tehran, however, regards the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) report as yet another confirmation for the peaceful nature of its nuclear programmes.

"The latest IAEA report has once again acknowledged that there was no evidence which would show that Tehran's peaceful nuclear activities have been diverted for other purposes and hence confirmed Iran's longstanding assertions about their (peaceful) nature," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.

Tehran  - The Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been appointed to defend the Persian Gulf, the official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday.

Former IRGC commander General Rahim Yahya Safavi told IRNA that IRGC naval forces were now in charge of defence in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman in case of any military conflict.

Iran's armed forces have been divided into the regular army and the IRGC since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Both forces are under the command of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Islamabad, Sept 16 : In what would further delay the IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project, Iran has demanded a revision of the gas price formula earlier agreed with Pakistan.

Sources in Pakistan Petroleum Ministry said that Iran’s demand would further delay the gas pipeline project, the estimated cost of which is 7.4 billion dollars.

Vienna - Iran is continuing to expand its uranium enrichment programme while obfuscating UN efforts to verify the nature of the country's nuclear ambitions, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Monday.

Mohamed ElBaradei also said that the agency had new information relating to past Iranian nuclear weapons-related studies, but had had no cooperation from the latter in clarifying their details.

Vienna- Iran has failed to provide information that would clear up allegations it was involved in nuclear weapons-related research, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Monday.

A report issued by the nuclear watchdog provided further indications that Iran's studies on high-explosives testing and missiles, which the IAEA says could have been related to weapons, were technically related and were conducted with foreign help.