U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday stressed that there is no “justification” for the retention of arms by Hizbullah, as he urged Lebanon's leaders to elect a new president through local efforts.

“Make no mistake: there is no justification for the retention of arms by a militia or terrorist group that answers -- not to the Lebanese people -- but to foreign governments in Damascus and Tehran,” Kerry said in a message commemorating the tenth anniversary of former premier Rafik Hariri's assassination, in an apparent reference to Hizbullah.

Chairman of Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Friday that Tehran was keen on Lebanon's stability and stressed it was up to the Lebanese rival factions to resolve the presidential impasse.

“The latest political developments in the region help consolidate stability in Lebanon,” said Boroujerdi following talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.

Top European diplomats on Thursday waded into the political fray in Washington over Iran, urging U.S. lawmakers to hold off on new sanctions and pleading for time to allow nuclear talks to succeed.

"Maintaining pressure on Iran through our existing sanctions is essential,"  four European foreign policy chiefs warned in a joint op-ed in the Washington Post.

Iran's atomic agency chief insisted Sunday on Tehran's demands for increased uranium enrichment, days before the resumption of thorny talks with world powers in Geneva.

Ali Akbar Salehi, a former foreign minister and ex-nuclear negotiator for the Islamic republic, said that within eight years the country would need 12 times more enriched uranium than at present.

The French foreign ministry's director for North Africa and the Middle East affairs is expected to travel to Riyadh, Tehran and the Vatican in an attempt to resolve the Lebanese presidential deadlock, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said Jean-François Girault will travel to Saudi Arabia on January 5. He is then scheduled to make a trip to Iran and later head to the Vatican for talks with top officials on Lebanon's presidential crisis.

Tensions over a possible nuclear deal between Iran and world powers were on display Sunday outside an atomic facility in Tehran where a rare protest saw hardliners criticize government negotiators.

While the crowd was small -- about 200, mostly students, gathered at the entrance to the Tehran Research Reactor -- the event was the first such officially approved demonstration in months.

Iran has freed an Iranian-Canadian journalist dubbed "the blogfather" who was jailed for 19 years for traveling to Israel, local media reported Thursday.

Hossein Derakhshan was arrested in November 2008 after visiting Israel -- Iran's arch-foe -- with his Canadian passport on what he called a mission to breed understanding between Iranians and Israelis. 

France is seeking to encourage Iran to help the rival Lebanese politicians strike a deal on a new consensual president over fears that the regional turmoil would harm coexistence in Lebanon, diplomatic sources said.

The sources told An Nahar newspaper published on Thursday that the French initiative comes with an American support to fill the vacuum at Baabda Palace.

A British-Iranian woman jailed in Tehran since June was arrested for having contacts with the "opposition based abroad" and propaganda offences against the regime, a justice official said on Tuesday.

Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, was detained outside a stadium in the capital where she had gone to watch a volleyball match.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday vehemently denied that Washington offered to discuss cooperation with Iran in the fight against Islamic militancy if a nuclear deal was reached with Tehran.

"There is no linkage whatsoever of the nuclear discussions with any other issue," Kerry told reporters in Beijing, where he was attending annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meetings.