A senior Chinese diplomat in a meeting with an Iranian media delegation headed by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast stressed the necessity for the further development of media relations between the two countries.

When Israeli pop superstar Rita Jahanforuz told her friends she wanted to record an album in Farsi, they thought she must have gone mad. The 50-year-old Iranian-born, Jewish singer, who is usually known just by her first name, recalled: "'They all said, 'You want to record an album in the language of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Who will listen to it?' I didn't know why I had to do it, I just did. It's like someone lit a match. What's happening now is beyond what I ever imagined."

A whole set of factors pertaining to style, discourse, image and public diplomacy come into play here that must be analyzed carefully to reach a sound conclusion as it pertains the external effectiveness of Ahmadinejad and his overall legacy as two-term president of the Islamic Republic in a crucial era.

Rita, however, with her striking beauty and bubbly demeanor, has emerged as an unexpected bond between ordinary Iranians and Israelis—part cultural ambassador, part antiwar spokeswoman. A picture of Rita with the banner, "Iranians we will never bomb your country," is posted on her Facebook page.

A Chinese Disneyland-style amusement park, the Fantawild Theme Park, will be completed and open for business in Esfahan, Iran, by the end of this year. Fantawild Holdings, like Disney, is primarily an animation produce..."These cartoons were both aired at home and exported to other countries," Liu said.

Bolivia has also become a prominent destination for Iran’s latest public diplomacy effort, HispanTV. The television channel, a Spanish-language analogue to the regime’s influential English-language PressTV, was formally launched with considerable fanfare by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this year.

...while American policymakers discuss our own plans for aid and development, seldom do we acknowledge how our adversaries also make use of soft power....Most impoverished Afghans delay marriages for years because they cannot afford the price tag. The Iranians, however, know that by subsidizing such marriages, they can win hearts and minds for a generation.