Nasser Karimi, The Associated Press

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday told the visiting head of the U.N. nuclear agency that Tehran has never pursued nuclear weapons and that inspectors should be “fair” when they help implement a landmark nuclear deal reached with world powers in July.

Iran’s supreme leader said Wednesday that Tehran will not expand talks with the United States beyond the international negotiations over its nuclear program and predicted that Israel would not exist in 25 years.

Iran’s president said on Tuesday that his country is ready to hold talks with the United States and Saudi Arabia on ways to resolve Syria’s civil war, providing such negotiations can secure peace and democracy in conflict-torn Syria.

Iraq and Iran pushed back Monday against U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s criticisms over the fall of Ramadi to the Islamic State group, with an Iranian general going as far as saying America had “no will” to fight the extremists.

Iran is staking out a tough bargaining stance for the final phase of nuclear negotiations, with both its supreme leader and its moderate president saying Thursday that any deal must include an immediate lifting of withering sanctions.

Iran’s foreign minister said Saturday that Tehran would be able to return to its nuclear activities if the West withdraws from a pact that is to be finalized in June.

Iran said Thursday that a team of special operatives has freed an Iranian diplomat abducted more than 19 months ago in Yemen

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Friday announced it has test fired a “new strategic weapon” in the final day of a large-scale naval and air defense drill, saying the system would play a key role in any future battle against the United States.

Iran and Russia signed an agreement Tuesday to expand military ties in a visit to Tehran by the Russian defense minister.

The United States has proposed an exchange of Iranian prisoners in the U.S. for a former U.S. Marine currently in prison in Iran, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday — a report which was immediately denied by Washington.