Middle Orient

GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli missile strike killed five Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinian hospital officials and Hamas said.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Tehran’s Provisional Friday Prayers leader Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called on western countries to avoid use force and threats against the Islamic Republic, warning that such an option would deteriorate conditions for the West.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Industries and Mines Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian left Tehran Friday morning for Egypt to attend an inauguration ceremony marking the official launch of operation of the assembly line of Iranian Peugeot Pars passenger car in the African country.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said late on Thursday nothing would deflect the Islamic Republic from its pursuit of nuclear technology.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- The Sri Lankan Government was able to secure seven months credit facility to import crude oil from Iran following President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s State visit to Tehran, a senior official said in Colombo on Thursday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to attend the upcoming summit of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) slated for Dec. 3-4 in Qatar’s capital Doha.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are to continue Tehran-West nuclear talks in a meeting in London on Friday.

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran announced on Wednesday that its first domestically built destroyer, the Jamaran, as well as its first domestically built Ghadir class submarine launched operation.

Turkey’s prime minister said on Friday his cabinet had authorized the armed forces to conduct a cross-border operation against Kurdish PKK rebels in northern Iraq, but analysts said major action did not appear imminent.

A Syriac Christian priest kidnapped this week in southeast Turkey was released unharmed on Friday.“The priest was released in good condition…,” Batman province Deputy Governor Aziz Mercan told Reuters.