Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran’s armed forces have added 74 new gunboats to their naval apparatus.

TEHRAN (FNA) – A new UN Security Council resolution calling for sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt its nuclear program was officially introduced Thursday by Britain and France, the British envoy to the UN said.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov and visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met in Bishkek Thursday pledging to strengthen bilateral ties.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian and Iraqi officials have agreed to restore border posts ahead of the Iranian president’s first state visit.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran’s former top nuclear negotiator said that the UN’s nuclear watchdog had enough information from the Islamic Republic about its nuclear program.

Egyptian security forces have raided the houses of Muslim Brotherhood members and arrested more than 90 people from the banned political group, the Muslim Brotherhood said Wednesday on its Web site.

Iraqi radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has extended for another six months a cease-fire between his Mahdi army militia and U.S. and Iraqi forces. 

BEIRUT – Lebanon has moved to regularize the status of Iraqi refugees residing illegally in the country, a decision the top U.N. refugee agency says will benefit thousands of Iraqis and help release hundreds in detention.

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq – The Turkish military shelled several Kurdish rebel positions inside northern Iraq on Thursday, an Iraqi security official said.

ANKARA – Turkey’s president said on Thursday he hoped the victory of Serzh Sarksyan in Armenia’s presidential election would lead to a normalization of relations between their estranged countries.