Middle Orient News

TEHRAN (FNA)- The US efforts to hold direct talks with Iran is one of the Islamic Revolution’s achievements, Hams envoy to Tehran said. The United States and Iran broke diplomatic relations in April 1980, after Iranian students seized the United States’ espionage center at its embassy in Tehran. The two …

JABALYA CAMP, Gaza Strip  – Five-year-old Mohammed al-Najjar lets his mind wander as he puts crayon to paper in an effort to depict an Israeli air strike inside a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. “This is the plane and those are two missiles it fired. They hit a house …

CAIRO – A Hamas leader on Sunday played down reports that his group wanted to establish a new umbrella body to replace the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole representative of the Palestinians. Mahmoud al-Zahar told Al Jazeera television that remarks by Hamas’s leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, that some …

JERUSALEM/GAZA  – An Egyptian proposal to stabilize post-war Gaza calls for an extended truce between Israel and Hamas, a prisoner exchange and the initial opening of at least two of the enclave’s border crossings, diplomats said. Ahead of an Israeli election on Tuesday, negotiations in Cairo have grown increasingly intense …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Supreme Leader’s Adviser Ali Akbar Velayati, in a meeting with Iraqi National Security Advisor Muwafaq Al Rubaie, congratulated the Iraqi nation and government on the successful holding of the country’s recent provincial council elections. Velayati, who arrived in Baghdad Saturday, reiterated that the massive turnout of Iraqi …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Developments in Gaza have created a wide gap among the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states, an official in the council’s secretariat told FNA on Sunday. “The Palestine issue has divided council’s members into two groups,” Media Affairs Official in PGCC’s secretariat Salim Al Alavi said. Reminding …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran delivered message of friendship and peace to the oppressed Gaza people by its humanitarian aids sent to the area via Lebanon. Iran delivered the humanitarian aids to Lebanon after it was denied entry by Egypt, Head of Iranian Red Crescent Society team to Gaza Ahmad Navab said …

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran and Iraq are negotiating a new memorandum of understanding that will substantially increase the number of Iranian pilgrims visiting the country. Iraq’s Tourism and Antiquities Minister Qahtan Abbas is leading the negotiations with a visiting Iranian delegation on a deal that will facilitate travel between the countries, …

JERUSALEM – The Israeli navy intercepted and boarded a freighter trying to break the blockade of Gaza on Thursday and ordered it to make for Israel’s nearest Mediterranean port, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. “The navy boarded the vessel, stopped it and it is now bringing it to Ashdod,” Barak …

BAGHDAD  – A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people and wounded 15 others in Diyala province in northeast Iraq Thursday, police said, the bloodiest attack in the country in weeks. The attack comes a few days after Iraq held largely peaceful provincial elections. Results are due later Thursday.