Iran's foreign ministry on Wednesday criticized as a "dangerous precedent" the Arab League's decision to allocate Syria's long-vacant seat to the Syrian opposition.

Opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib took Syria's seat at the League on Tuesday as Arab leaders gathered in Doha for their annual summit, sparking a furious reaction from Damascus.

U.S. President Barack Obama strolled among the ancient Jordanian ruins at Petra on Saturday, on the final leg of a four-day Middle East tour dominated by his embrace of Israel.

Obama flew by helicopter to view the rose-colored stone ruins of the ancient Nabataean city, after winds from a sandstorm abated and allowed him to make the 55-minute trip across the plains and mountains of Jordan.

Syria's key regional ally Iran on Friday condemned a suicide mosque bombing in Damascus that killed the country's top Sunni Muslim cleric and at least 40 other people, Fars news agency reported.

"The foreign ministry condemns the martyrdom of Sheikh Mohamed Saeed al-Bouti, who was killed while in the company of his pupils by the savage action of extremist groups," the ministry was quoted as saying.

Expert talks between world power and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program produced no breakthrough but were positive in tone, Russia's chief negotiator on the dispute said on Thursday.

"There was certain progress. It was real but insufficient to speak of a breakthrough," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters after the talks in Istanbul on Monday.

Iran began the Persian New Year on Wednesday with its most senior leader asking the people to stand up to piling Western economic sanctions and also warning that the pressure was unlikely to ease.

If Iranians show more "readiness" to face Western pressure, the next 12 months will be a "political and economic epoch" for the country, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a recorded message on state television.

Despite their longstanding wish for a single homeland called Kurdistan, the Kurds are today scattered over four countries spanning half a million square kilometers: Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

Originally of Indo-European origin, the Kurds trace their roots back to the Medes of ancient Persia. Mainly Sunni Muslim, they live in mountainous regions straddling the four countries, and have kept their language, culture and tribal system.

Iran on Wednesday accused "armed opposition groups" in Syria of having used chemical weapons on the city of Aleppo, warning against a recurrence of such attacks, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"The Islamic republic of Iran strongly condemns the inhumane act by armed opposition groups in using chemical weapons in the city of Aleppo," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

The Saudi authorities have arrested 18 suspected spies, including an Iranian and a Lebanese, on charges of espionage for a foreign country, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

"Sixteen Saudis, an Iranian and a Lebanese were arrested in coordinated and simultaneous operations in four regions of the kingdom," including the capital Riyadh and the holy city of Mecca, the ministry said in a statement.

A top general said on Tuesday that the United States' military has "limited intelligence capabilities to monitor Hizbullah and Iran's activities in Latin America”.

“Our abilities may prevent our full awareness of all Iranian and Hizbullah activities in the region," General John Kelly, head of U.S. Southern Command, told lawmakers in an apparent allusion to budget pressures.

Independent March 14 MPs condemned on Tuesday the Syrian regime's shelling of Lebanese areas on Sunday, hailing President Michel Suleiman's stance on the matter.

MP Butros Harb said: “We hope Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour would not rebel against Suleiman's demand to file a complaint against the Syrian regime's shelling of Lebanese territory.”