Middle Orient

RIYADH – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which comprises 57 Muslim countries, said on Sunday it would step up action at the United Nations to stop Israel’s blockade of Palestinians in Gaza.

ANKARA – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has accused opponents of the Islamic-style headscarf for women of trying to sow division in secular but predominantly Muslim Turkey.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Egyptian forces began closing the border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, stemming the flow of Palestinians across a frontier blown open 11 days ago by Hamas Islamists in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said there resides no major impediment to the resumption of ties between Iran and Egypt, adding that Tehran and Cairo are determined to boost mutual cooperation.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, senior advisor to the Iranian president, Saturday dismissed reports about a meeting between Iranian and US officials on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

TEHRAN (FNA) – World has no way out but to accept Iran’s power, Government Spokesman Gholam Hosseini Elham said in the wake of a recent statement by the European parliament.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Presidents of Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Zimbabwe and Namibia as well as prime minister of Lesotho voiced support for Iran’s right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran’s top military commander said his forces will retaliate against American military bases in the Persian Gulf if they are involved in any possible future attack on Iran.

TEHRAN (FNA) – The absence of UK and European business with Iran will see the country’s trade orientation shift toward the East, with western products being increasingly replaced by Chinese imports, an Iranian official said.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran’s biggest oilfield, Azadegan, will come on stream next week, a newspaper reported on Saturday, a key project in plans to gradually boost output capacity in the world’s fourth-largest crude producer.