Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran and Turkey need more time to finalize a major natural gas deal, President Abdullah Gul said Saturday, playing down reports that US pressure on Turkey to abandon the project is behind the delay.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s just-ended visit to Turkey, a NATO ally that is also aspiring to the membership in the European Union (EU), yielded fruits in countering US efforts to set a diplomatic blockade over Tehran, analysts said.

TEHRAN, (ISNA)-Iran and Turkey signed five Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) during Ahmadinejad’s mission in Turkey on curbing terrorism and drug trafficking as well as working on tourism, environment and transportation.

TEHRAN, (ISNA)-Iran’s foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Iraqi deputy prime minister Barham Saleh discussed regional issues and ways to promote bilateral ties.

TEHRAN, (ISNA)-Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi slammed recent deadly attack in the Lebanese city of Tripoli on the army, killing at least 15 people.

KERBALA, Iraq (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims poured into Iraq’s holy city of Kerbala on Saturday, defying bomb attacks across the country to attend a rite that has become an annual show of strength for the Shi’ite majority.

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous region has agreed to withdraw troops from a neighboring Iraqi province and hand over security in the area to forces of the central government, a Kurdish official said.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran increased its gas exports to Turkey after the Russia-Georgia conflict disrupted supplies from Azerbaijan.

KERBALA, Iraq (Reuters) – A roadside bomb struck a minibus packed with pilgrims bound for Iraq’s holy Shi’ite city of Kerbala on Friday as authorities deployed more than 40,000 police and soldiers to avert new violence in the annual rite.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will meet Friday Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on the second day of his visit to the neighboring country.