Middle Orient

TEHRAN (FNA) – Undersecretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Javad Vaeedi said that his country has so far produced 300 tons of UF6 gas in Isfahan nuclear facility, in central Iran.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki lauded Washington’s planned troop drawdown in Iraq, but urged the US to expedite handing over full control of all affairs, including security, to the Baghdad government.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez applauds Tehran for its broad-scale cooperation with the Latin American states.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili says peace in the occupied territories can only be achieved through democratic means.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran is hoping that the UN Security Council will not adopt a new resolution on sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, the foreign minister said on Saturday.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran Air, the national airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has purchased 9 new airplanes during the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2007), Managing Director Saeed Hesami said here on Thursday.

TEHRAN (FNA) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is in Davos to participate in the World Economic Forum, has said Iran has been supporting his country since the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001.

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

GAZA – Hamas offered on Saturday to restore the Gaza Strip’s ruptured border with Egypt through direct diplomacy with Cairo, challenging a plan by rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to assume control.

JERUSALEM – Israeli police shot a Palestinian who had stabbed an Israeli border policeman near Jerusalem on Saturday, Israeli police and ambulance workers said.