Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) said that the US seeks to plunder Syrian oil, maintain the security of the Zionist regime, and expand ISIL terrorist cells in the region by being present in Syria.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Saturday denied statements by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, that his country and Romania are stocking offensive weapons, including nuclear weapons, that could be used against Russia. There has never been a nuclear weapon in Bulgaria, he stressed.

SADR President Brahim Ghali insisted that Moroccan troops unleashed the war when they entered the Guerguerat demilitarized on Nov. 14. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) President and Polisario Front Secretary, Brahim Ghali, called on the African Union (AU) to apply sanctions to Morocco for its occupation of Western Sahara …

The Islamic Republic has given contradictory details of Fakhrizadeh’s death in a daytime Nov. 27 ambush on his car on a highway near Tehran. The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist last month was carried out remotely with artificial intelligence and a machine gun equipped with a “satellite-controlled smart system,” …

Clashes in the West Bank injured several Palestinians just days after a minor was shot and killed by IDF fire. Undercover Border Police officers and Palestinians were injured in clashes in the West Bank village of Kalandiya on Monday, just days after a Palestinian teenager was killed by IDF fire …

Turkey’s annual inflation hit 14.03% in November, well above forecasts, raising pressure on the nation’s new Central Bank governor to impose tight monetary policies. Turkey’s annual inflation rose higher than expected in November, climbing to 14.03% according to data released Thursday by the Turkish Statistical Institute.

Turkey is pinning high economic hopes on a transport link that would connect it to Azerbaijan and beyond, but Russia and Iran have caveats and the viability of Turkey’s projects are open to question. Having agreed a joint military center with Russia to monitor the cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey is …

Ahead of a European Council summit in which EU leaders will discuss sanctions on Ankara this week over energy prospecting activities in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated calls for dialogue, urging bloc members not be swayed by Greek and Cypriot agendas.

EU antitrust regulators approved on Monday DIC Corp’s bid for German chemicals group BASF’s pigments unit after the Japanese printing ink maker pledged to sell a U.S. facility to address competition concerns.

The Israeli Jerusalem Municipality yesterday demolished a historic stairway which leads to the Al-Aqsa Mosque’s Lions’ Gate (Bab Al-Asbat) and the Old City of Jerusalem.