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Afghan refugees in Iran have been given only five days to get themselves registered in the Bureau of Alien Foreign Immigrant Affairs (BAFIA) centres to go back home, otherwise they will be punished.

The recent visit of Faezeh Rafsanjani, the daughter of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, to Iraq has added fuel to rumours of growing cooperation between the two countries.

Despite the hardline judiciary's ban on the Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI), it will continue its political activity till the final ruling is issued, the movement's leader told Gulf News in an exclusive interview here yesterday.

The Iranian parliament has approved $475 million as financial aid to Afghanistan following a factional dispute inside the parliament between pro-reform MPs and conservatives who strongly opposed the move.

A U.S. attack on Iran is "highly probable" in 2003, Mohsen Rezaie, spokesman of Iran's Expediency Council, said here yesterday.

Iran yesterday refrained to confirm reports that it had handed over 16 Al Qaida members to Saudi Arabia as revealed by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal.

The head of Iran's Assembly of Experts, Great Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, has sought the death penalty for a pro-reform journalist who allegedly insulted Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in a speech in the western city of Hamedan.

While 12 million Iranian students from over 50,000 schools practiced on precautionary measures to deal with a possible earthquake on Monday, a relatively strong tremor jolted the northwestern city of Naqadeh.

While Iraqi Kurds map out post-Saddam Hussain scenario that they expect following U.S.-led campaign to overthrow him, their counterparts in northwestern Iran cling to their motherland.

The son of a prominent religious figure has fled the country to escape corruption charges, while a former foreign minister has voluntarily returned to face charges of plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime.

Some 4,000 Afghan refugees have married Iranian women in Tehran alone during the last 20 years.

In an unexpected meeting with 45 moderate Members of Parliament here on Monday, former president and head of Expediency Council ((EC) Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has okayed talks between Iranian and American legislators.