Middle East & North Africa

Tehran (ISNA) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a meeting on Wednesday with his Saudi counterpart on the sidelines of the Baghdad II Conference in Amman, the capital of Jordan.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian wrote on his official twitter account, “I attended the conference to reaffirm my own support for Iraq. On the sidelines of the conference, I had an opportunity to hold meetings with certain counterparts, including from Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia”.

Tehran (ISNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian conveyed Iranian President’s message to the Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, inviting him to visit Iran.

In this message, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi invited the Sultan of Oman to visit Tehran, stressing on the importance of bilateral relations and holding negotiation on regional and international issues.

In this meeting, Amir-Abdollahian emphasized the importance of the full implementation of the agreements reached between the two countries during Raisi's visit to Oman.

Tehran (ISNA) - Achieving the target of 20 million tons freight transit in 2023 along the INSTC through Iran's territory demands development of transport infrastructures as well as promoting the fleet. In doing so, Iran deputy minister informed of renewing road fleets and road maintenance machineries.

26,300 new road freight fleets will be added to Iran's fleet, Darush Amani, head of Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization (RMTO), informed.

01 Jan 2023; MEMO: Iranian police briefly detained several unidentified top-tier football players in a raid on a party on New Year's Eve where alcohol was served in violation of an Islamic ban, Iranian media reported, Reuters reports.

01 Jan 2023; MEMO: Turkiye's Foreign Minister has revealed that China has refused to allow the Turkish ambassador to visit the Uyghur region in the north-western Xinjiang province, admitting it has strained ties between the two nations.

01 Jan 2023; MEMO: President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on Saturday congratulated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on assuming office, Anadolu reports.

Bin Zayed made a phone call with Netanyahu during which he congratulated him on the formation of his new government, the state news agency WAM reported.

01 Jan 2023; MEMO: A boat carrying 200 would-be migrants sank off Lebanon's coast on Saturday, according to the military, Anadolu reports.

The army said naval forces headed to the site of the sinking, off the coast of Selaata, north of Beirut, and proceeded to rescue the migrants.

It, however, did not provide details about their nationalities.

The statement said the boat was carrying people trying to illegally cross the Lebanese territorial waters.

BEIRUT, Jan 1 (NNN-NNA) – At the turn of the year, tens of thousands of Lebanese had a chance to get on board the ship, Logos Hope, to bid farewell to 2022 and greet the New Year.

Since Logos Hope, the world’s largest floating book fair, docked at the Beirut port on Dec 15, about 50,000 people have visited the book fair, which closed yesterday. The ship will leave Beirut on Tuesday.

The library ship, home to about 5,000 titles, brought knowledge and hope to the Lebanese, struggling for three years from a steep financial crisis, dragging most of them into despair.

GAZA, Jan 1 (NNN-WAFA) – “Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians like to live with so many deadly conflicts,” said Mohammed Abu Shakrah, a resident of the Palestinian city of Nablus.

The year 2022 has seen uninterrupted fighting between the long-term rivals, resulting in the deaths of 166 Palestinians and 27 Israelis.

Chabahar, IRNA – The first container ship departing from China docked at Iran’s key port of Chabahar on Saturday, marking the establishment of the first direct shipping line between China and Iran's southeastern seaport.

The announcement was made by Amir Moghaddam, the managing director of the Chabahar Free Zone Organization.

He said that Chinese ships previously unloaded in Bandar Abbas, the capital city of the southern province of Hormuzgan, with their cargos then being transferred to Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchistan Province via smaller ships.