Middle East & North Africa

TEHRAN, Sept 10 (NNN-TASNIM) – Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, will visit European countries next week, it was reported yesterday.

During his European tour, Zarif will visit Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The imminent trip of the minister comes at a time when the United States has mounted pressures on the UN Security Council, for the return of the pre-2015 nuclear deal sanctions against Iran.

He would likely to discuss the Europeans’ help, to block the U.S. fresh initiative against the Islamic republic.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A store of oil and tires at Beirut port caught fire on Thursday, a military source said, a little more than a month after a massive blast devastated the port and a surrounding residential area of the Lebanese capital.

The fire erupted in the duty free zone of the port, sending a huge column of smoke above the city. The military source said the cause of the blaze was not immediately clear.

Television footage showed firefighters trying to douse the blaze at the port, where warehouses and concrete grain silos were shattered by the Aug. 4 blast.

09 Sep 2020; MEMO: The Jerusalem District court yesterday ordered the eviction of Nasser Rajabi and his family from their home in the Batan Al-Hawa neighbourhood of Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Centre, which monitors Israeli human rights violations in Jerusalem, said in a statement that the Al-Rajabi family’s property is a residential building consisting of three apartments housing 30 family members.

Turkey’s Prime Minister has insisted that all of his country’s naval manoeuvres in the Eastern Mediterranean conform to NATO criteria. Mevlut Cavusoglu made his comments during a joint press conference with Congolese Prime Minister John-Claude Gakosso at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara.

Cavusoglu denied the claims of his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, that Turkey has been firing live ammunition during the naval exercises.

09 Sep 2020; MEMO: The European Union missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah yesterday called on Israel to stop the demolition policy pursued against Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem including those funded by the EU and its member states.

09 Sep 2020; MEMO: The Houthi will close Sanaa International Airport to relief flights including the United Nations from today.

The group’s foreign ministry said in a letter sent to the United Nations that flights to Sanaa airport will be stopped as of today claiming that the internally recognised Yemeni government and Arab coalition have prevented the entry of oil derivatives needed to operate the airport.

09 Sep 2020; MEMO: The Moroccan government closed Casablanca yesterday as part of its measures to contain the spread of Covid-19, the official Moroccan News Agency has reported.

“All labour ports of Casablanca will be closed and movement to and from the city will be subject to an exceptional travel permit issued by the local authorities,” said the government on Sunday evening.

09 Sep 2020; MEMO: Israel’s largest lender Bank Hapoalim expects to start working with banks in the United Arab Emirates once the two Middle East states sign a normalisation agreement, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

The UAE and Israel are due to sign the agreement, brokered by the United States, on September 15 at a ceremony held by US President Donald Trump.

09 Sep 2020; MEMO: A senior Chadian delegation arrived in Israel yesterday and met with senior officials and expressed a willingness to open a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem, local media reported.

The delegation was headed by Abdelkerim Idriss Deby, the son of Chad’s President Idriss Deby, and the deputy director of Chad’s civil cabinet, the Jerusalem Post said.

TEHRAN, Sept 9 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, said that, Iran and Turkey, as two big regional powers, must expand their cooperation to defeat “foreign plots.”

Rouhani said, the only way to overcome “foreign plots” is further expanding relations between the two countries.