Middle Orient

AMMAN – Iraq hopes to conclude by July a pact with the United States that lays the basis for long-term strategic ties between the two countries and defines the legal status of U.S. troops, Iraq’s foreign minister said on Saturday.

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s parliament passed a law on Saturday to ease restrictions on mostly Sunni Arab members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party returning to public life, one of the main political benchmarks set by the United States.

TEHRAN (FNA) UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei expressed the hope that continued cooperation between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency would lead to the normalization of Iran’s nuclear issue by the next meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors in March.

TEHRAN (FNA) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the International Atomic Energy Agency not to be influenced by the great powers and to fulfill its duties on the basis of legal criteria.

TEHRAN (FNA) Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission is decisive to increase the country’s defense budget, a commission member said here on Saturday.

TEHRAN (FNA) An earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale jolted the region of Hoseiniyeh in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan on Saturday.

TEHRAN (FNA) Pakistan will sign a key gas sale and purchase agreement with Iran in January to import gas via a proposed pipeline, Pakistan Petroleum Minister Ahsan Ullah Khan said yesterday.

TEHRAN (FNA) United Nations nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei started talks Saturday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.

TEHRAN (FNA) Former Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani registered on Friday to run in the Islamic Republic’s March parliamentary election.

BAGHDAD – Snow fell on Baghdad on Friday for the first time in memory, and delighted residents declared it an omen of peace.