Iran has rejected the Palestinians’ UN statehood bid, saying any deal that accepted the existence of Israel would leave a "cancerous tumour" forever.

Iran has been targeted by a second computer virus in a "cyber war" waged by its enemies, its commander of civil defence said on Monday.

At least 70 people were killed and 35 injured when an Iranian Boeing 727 passenger plane crashed in bad weather in north-western Iran on Sunday.

Iran would stop enrichment if it is assured of nuclear fuel supplies for a research reactor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

An Iranian nuclear scientist who says he was abducted by CIA agents a year ago returned home from the United States early on Thursday.