Middle Orient

174 Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly gave vote of confidence to the President’s nominee and elected Ali Akbar Mehrabian as Industries and Mines Minister.

217 Members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly gave vote of confidence to the President’s nominee and elected Gholam Hossein Nozari as Oil Minister.

Italy’s ENI will continue to do business in Iran amid US pressure for companies to cut investment in the country, ENI’s chief executive said in an interview published Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said on Tuesday that the visit of IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to Iran is on the agenda but the exact time would be announced after mutual confirmation.

Sanctions are not the way to resolve the deepening international confrontation over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, China said on Tuesday, while also urging Tehran to be more compromising.

.S. and Iraqi forces killed an estimated 15 al Qaeda gunmen during a fierce battle south of Baghdad after the militants launched a major attack on recently formed neighborhood patrols, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

Following are security developments in Iraq at 8:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday.* Denotes new or updated item. * HAWIJA – Gunmen killed a policeman and an Iraqi soldier when they opened fire on their car in central Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk, police …

Hamas rounded up dozens of Fatah activists in the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip after its secular rival drew more than 200,000 supporters to a rally that ended in gunfire that killed seven people, officials said on Tuesday.

Corruption among Afghan officials is rife and government must be reformed to help end 30 years of war, misery and oppression, President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday in an unusually frank assessment of his country’s woes.

Provincial officials said on Monday that Iraqi forces will take over security for Babel province south of Baghdad next month, but the U.S. military said it was not aware of any plans to transfer control.