Middle Orient

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s government will confront armed militias and will not allow all-out war as threatened by populist Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Monday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The status of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk must be solved through a political formula and not a hastily organized referendum that could trigger violence, the U.N. special representative to Iraq said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr says the next step is “open war”. The U.S.-backed government shows no sign of backing down.

KABUL (Reuters) – Poor security and the lack of good governance are the biggest challenges facing Afghanistan, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday.

MANAMA – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received no firm commitments on debt relief for Iraq or greater Arab diplomatic representation in Baghdad after a meeting of Arab states on Monday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran has endured US sanctions for decades and its strategic oil industry will not be beaten by them now, a top Iranian oil official said on Sunday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to introduce head of the Supreme Audit Court Mohammad Reza Rahimi as the country’s acting interior minister next week.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Shell has been warned by Iran that it must commit itself to developing a $10bn gas field in the Middle East country by June or risk the project being handed over to a rival.

TEHRAN (FNA)- National Iranian Gas Export Company Managing Director, Nasrollah Seifi said Iran would begin the first gas supplies to Switzerland in 2009.  

TEHRAN (FNA)- An Iranian official voiced Tehran’s willingness to share its technical expertise in the field of telecommunications with other countries.