Middle East & North Africa

CAIRO, December 16. /TASS/: The parliament of Egypt ratified on Tuesday a deal on comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation with Russia, the Al Ahram newspaper reported.

In a Facebook post, the Russian embassy welcomed the move as "an important step toward developing friendly relations between Russia and Egypt, which are based on deep traditions of friendship, mutual warm feeling between our peoples and bilateral intention to boost cooperation."

(Reuters) - Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Washington’s hostility toward the Islamic Republic would not end when U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office.

“The hostility (against Iran) is not just from Trump’s America, which will not end when he leaves, as (President Barack) Obama’s America also did bad things to ...the Iranian nation,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by his official website.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two former Lebanese ministers charged with negligence over a huge explosion at Beirut port in August that killed 200 people indicated on Wednesday they would not appear for questioning before the judge handling the case.

Judge Fadi Sawan charged three former ministers and the caretaker prime minister last week, sparking a fierce debate about whether the judge had the authority to charge the politicians in a nation still seeking answers about the blast.

Tehran, Dec 16, IRNA – The JCPOA Joint Commission meeting kicked off today (Wednesday) with the participation of the Iranian delegations and the P4+1 group via videoconference.

The meeting is aimed at examining how to implement the JCPOA to deal with challenges concerning the deal.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi is leading the Iranian delegation in the meeting.

Tehran, Dec 16, IRNA – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said overcoming the hollow strong image of hegemonic powers through soft power and expelling the US from the region are the harshest blows to be inflicted on enemies.

The Supreme Leader made the remarks here on Wednesday when he received the organizers of a commemoration ceremony on the first martyrdom anniversary of the IRGC Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

16 Dec 2020; AA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke over the phone with the head of the European Council, an official statement said on Tuesday. 

The statement by Turkey’s Communications Directorate said Charles Michel called Erdogan to inform him and exchange views on the recently held EU summit.

During their conversation, Erdogan said Turkey evaluates every positive step taken in Turkey-EU relations as “a new window of opportunity.”

16 Dec 2020; AA: Turkey will extend all possible support to Iraq in efforts to eliminate the PKK terror group, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

“We have always defended Iraq’s territorial and political integrity and will continue to do so,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a news conference in the capital Ankara.

Recalling how Turkey supported Baghdad’s fight against Daesh, he stressed that Ankara wants to see Iraq purged of all terrorists.

16 Dec 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is detaining hundreds of mainly Ethiopian migrants in squalid conditions in Riyadh, Human Rights Watch said, quoting some as saying they had been tortured or beaten, and that at least three had died since October.

16 Dec 2020; MEMO: The Libyan army said Tuesday that a plane carrying Syrian mercenaries landed in Benghazi to support Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar.

In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Abdul Hadi Dara, the spokesman for the Sirte and Jafra operation of the Libyan armed forces, said they "received solid information of mercenaries on board a plane that belongs to [Syrian-owned] Cham Wings Airlines which arrived from Syria to Benina airport."

16 Dec 2020; MEMO: The Iranian parliament approved the amendment of the presidential election law, whereby anyone who holds a nationality other than the Iranian one or resides in another country, either now or at any time before, is prohibited from running for the presidency.

Of the 239 MPs, 152 voted in favour of amending the presidential election law, 56 voted against and six abstained, some failed to attend the session.