Iranian artists show what it's 'like to be human in everyday Iran' in an exhibit that has been shown in Tehran, Paris, and now Beirut. Six young Iranian artists delve into themes of repression, identity, and abstracted realities in a multifaceted exhibition titled “Under the Radar.”

"Given the cultural and religious commonalities between the two neighboring states, ties between Tehran and Baku will further develop," the minister added. Holding Azerbaijan Cultural Week in Iran is a significant step to develop ties, he said, adding that given numerous capacities of the two countries, the meetings will help promote friendship between them.

U.S. President Barack Obama has once again appealed directly to Iranian people over the BBC Persian service on Friday, in a rare showcase of technology surpassing the boundaries of official communication channels.

In a refreshing break with the daily dose of gloomy headlines about the current state of British-Iranian relations, there was, at last, something to cheer about last week as the “soft” power of art and culture trumped hard-nosed diplomacy.

Haystack, a company that has created software designed to circumvent Iranian government censors, has stopped testing its program amid criticism of faulty security. Haystack founder Austin Heap said in an interview Monday that concerns about how his much-touted software program works and whether it's secure were “valid.”

In early August, at the fourth trilateral summit between Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan held in Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the leaders of the other two countries to join in an alliance to counterbalance NATO's growing presence in Central Asia.

Japanese plenipotentiary in Iran Kazutoshi Aikawa and cultural attaché Yoko Takahashi visited the exhibit “A Manifestation of World Contemporary Art” currently underway at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA) here on Wednesday.

US and Iran faced off at the World Basketball Championships here on Wednesday night, electrifying Iranian fans and offering a rare opportunity for people of the two arch-enemy nations to meet face to face. It was the latest instance of sports diplomacy first used by both sides in the late 1990s to ease US-Iran hostility.