A street in the West Bank city of al-Bireh was named for the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Al-Bireh Mayor Fawzi Abid made the announcement over the weekend during a visit to the Venezuelan embassy in the city to offer condolences for Chavez's death, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported. Chavez, who ruled the South American country for 14 years, died March 5 following a long battle with cancer. “Chavez's death is a loss to the whole world, and to the Palestinian people...

Iranian Ambassador to Venezuela Hojattolah Soltani stated on Tuesday that Tahmasb Mazaheri, an Iranian citizen detained in Germany over a USD 70-million check, has nothing to do with the Government of Teheran. Tahmasb Mazaher "is by no means an official of the Government (of Iran); neither has his name been affixed to the confiscated check, the Iranian Ambassador told private-owned TV news channel Globovisión in an interview, AP cited. The ambassador stressed that Mazaheri...

Argentina and Iran signed an agreement to form an independent commission to investigate the 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish community center. The pact was signed by the foreign ministers of the two countries on Sunday in Ethiopia on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa. The parliaments of both countries must ratify the agreement, which creates a Commission of Truth consisting of five independent judges, none from either Argentina or Iran. Suspects may be...

The embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is considering the possibility to claim political asylum for himself, his family and his close circle in Latin America if he has to cede power, a newspaper reported Wednesday. "Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister held meetings in Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador over the past week, and brought with him classified personal letters from Assad to local leaders," the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported. Some Western and Arab countries have...

Iran said Wednesday it has completed a first round of talks with Argentina on the 1994 bombing of a Jewish aid organization in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded 300. “On Monday and Tuesday, Iranian and Argentine legal experts held their negotiations about AMIA (the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association) and agreed to continue negotiations in the future,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. “The time and the venue of the next round of...

Lebanese shi'ite Hezbollah, an ally with Iran, congratulated on Tuesday Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez for his reelection, positive that his victory is because of the "prestige of the Bolivarian revolution" and refusal of the "intervention and domination" policies. His (President Chávez's) word "is one of the rare ones that advocate the establishment of a fair, balanced world system." In a press release, the shi'ite group added that...

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that transparent talks between Tehran and Bones Aires over the 1994 bombing at the Amia Jewish center will reveal the realities and pave the ground for the improvement of the relations between the two counties. "The two (Iranian and Argentine) foreign ministers recently met and agreed to coordinate the rest of the path. We think studying this issue should definitely result in transparency and finding the reality," the...

TEHRAN - Iran and Argentina announced on Thursday that they will continue their consultations until the case of Iran’s alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building is resolved. The announcement was made in a joint statement issued by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman after they held their first meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday, Reuters reported. The...

Former Bolivian Congressman Jose Brechner sent the photos from a South American Hezbollah website in 2007. Hezbollah is reportedly training terrorists at a base in northern Nicaragua. The Lebanese website Naharnet reported, via ROP: Hizbullah is using a training base established by Iran in northern Nicaragua near the border with Honduras, the Israeli radio reported on Thursday. “The area is cordoned off and there are around 30 members of Hizbullah being trained in the camp,”...

QUITO: The Ecuadorian Finance Co., Inc. (COFIEC), a bank that was seized a decade ago by the former Deposit Guarantee Agency (AGD) would be the legal vehicle used by the Ecuadorian state to conduct financial transactions with Iran. The Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE) decided to conduct financial transactions through COFIEC as a part of financial cooperation agreements between Ecuador and Iran, as recorded in the minutes of the meeting that both countries held on January 12. The bilateral...