Cairo - Egypt has shut down the Cairo office of an Iranian television channel, saying it was operating without a mandatory broadcasting licence, security sources said Thursday.

The closing of the office of al-Alam channel, which broadcasts in Arabic from Tehran, came weeks after an Iranian documentary film on the assassin of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat was aired in Iran.

An official from al-Alam said the channel had nothing to do with the film, according to the Dubai-based al-Arabiya news broadcaster.

Moscow  - Russia said Thursday it opposes imposing deadlines on Tehran to force compliance with international efforts to halt its nuclear programme.

"We are of the view that there should be no artificial timeline, such as extreme deadlines of 'tomorrow or never,' just as there should be no endless dragging out of the process," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying on the sidelines of regional forum in Singapore.

Vienna - The heads of the Iranian Atomic Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) started their meeting in Vienna on Thursday, to discuss Iran's cooperation with the IAEA and it's recent talks with world powers in Geneva.

Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, Iran's nuclear chief, was expected to discuss with IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to discuss bilateral cooperation and how to proceed following the Geneva talks last Saturday.

The IAEA is still seeking answers from Tehran about past research projects that could be related to a nuclear weapons effort.

Tehran - Iran Wednesday said the arrest of Serbian war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic was an "historic moment" for the people of Bosnia Herzegovina and world Muslims, ISNA news agency reported.

"The arrest of this war criminal whose hands are stained with the blood of thousands of innocent people is an historic moment for the people of Bosnia Herzegovina and other world countries, especially the Muslims, who had waited for this moment for twelve years," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said.

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that no one Iran would compromise the country's nuclear efforts.

"I herewith announce that there is not one single person who would retreat from its nuclear rights," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Yasuj in western Iran.

"And you (world powers) have to accept the realities. I recommend you to correct your path (toward Iran)," the president added in the speech, broadcast live on state television.

Washington - Iran probably can already hit most of Europe and even Britain with a ballistic missile, even though it has not demonstrated the capability, the Pentagon's missile defence chief said Monday.

"I personally believe, based on what I've seen, that right now Iran has the ability to reach most of Europe. Right now. And they just haven't demonstrated it yet," Lieutenant General Henry Obering said in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Obering heads the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency, which is building the missile shield that the Bush administration wants to deploy to Poland and the Czech Republic to counter the Iranian threat.