Middle Orient

Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei Wednesday emphatically urged the world of Islam to take serious measures towards the Zionist regime’s ongoing desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas faces the task of forming a new Palestinian government with the moderate Fatah, despite unresolved internal disputes and the warning of a U.S. boycott.

At least seven people were killed in Iraq on Thursday as US and Iraqi troops continued operations in Baghdad as part of the new security plan.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has supported Hamas strongman Mohammed Dahlan as his nation’s next deputy prime minister, a report said.

Iran’s Expediency Council Chairman and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday that his country would remove the current obstacles to talks with the United States if it shows good will to Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The United States will boycott all Palestinian unity government ministers, including non-Hamas members, unless international demands on policy towards Israel are met, a Palestinian official and diplomats said on Thursday.

Washington: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton warned President George W. Bush not to take any military action against Iran without getting congressional approval first.

IRAQ imposed draconian new security rules on its war-torn capital overnight as US President George W. Bush accused Iranian agents of supplying weapons that have killed scores of US troops.

Challenged on the accuracy of U.S. intelligence, President Bush said Wednesday there is no doubt the Iranian government is providing armor-piercing weapons to kill American soldiers in Iraq. But he backed away from claims the top echelon of Iran’s government was responsible.

President Bush said yesterday he’s certain the Iranian government is supplying deadly weapons used by fighters in Iraq against U.S. troops, even if he can’t prove the orders came from top leaders in Tehran.