- is prepared to answer any questions about its nuclear research posed by the international nuclear watchdog, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said
- will conduct air defense exercises in preparation for a possible air strike on its uranium ore conversion center at Isfahan, the IRNA news agency said
- hopes Russia will begin delivering fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant in March, Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said
- will build its own nuclear power plant, the Islamic Republic's vice president said
* Russia's lower house of parliament might recommend to the premier March 20 that the health minister be dismissed over a scandal involving subsidized drugs, the speaker said
* The United States is prepared to cooperate with the Russian government on missile defense, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia said
* Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
- a ministerial meeting within the framework of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, scheduled for March 19 in Beijing, is possible
- Russia hopes for a quick settlement to the problem of North Korea's $8.8 billion debt to Russia
- Moscow intends to press for answers to questions it has regarding the expansion of the United States' missile shield
* President Vladimir Putin will visit Italy and Greece March 13-15 to meet with the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Rome and sign a long-delayed oil pipeline deal in Athens, the Kremlin said
The United State's ConocoPhillips has confirmed its interest in the vast Shtokman gas project off Russia's Arctic Coast, Russia's state-controlled energy giant Gazprom said
* Vladimir Nikolayev, suspended as Vladivostok mayor on charges of abuse of office, has been detained in Moscow, a law enforcement source said
* Russia's technical watchdog approved an industrial safety assessment of the first oil platform for the Sakhalin II oil and gas project off Russia's Pacific Coast
* The licensing agreement for the East Siberian Kovykta gas field cannot be changed after violations by the project's operator were discovered, the head of Russia's Federal Agency for Subsoil Use said
* Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko said that the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in Poland is a matter for the country to decide itself
