Tehran, July 31 (IANS) Iran and Egypt have expressed hope that bilateral ties will be resumed as soon as possible.

In a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty exchanged views on bilateral relations, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement published on the website of the Iranian president’s office.

Pezeshkian said Iran and Egypt were two “brotherly” countries whose peoples had a “heartfelt” interest in one another, pointing to the two countries’ “age-old, brilliant and glorious” civilizational backgrounds.

He hoped that the problems hindering the normalisation of bilateral ties would be completely resolved as soon as possible.

Pezeshkian said Iran and Egypt could help resolve many of the region’s problems, noting Iran is ready to cooperate and exchange experiences, capabilities, and bilateral capacities with Egypt.

The Egyptian foreign minister, who was in Iran to attend Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony held on Tuesday, said the two countries adopted close positions on issues such as non-interference in other states’ affairs, protecting the multilateral international system and defending humanitarian rights.

He added the normalisation of bilateral ties was continuing on its path, hoping that the two countries would manage to officially begin cooperation with each other as soon as possible to safeguard mutual interests.

Iran and Egypt severed diplomatic relations in 1980. In recent months, both countries have expressed willingness to mend ties by settling differences on certain issues.

In November 2023, late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and current Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi held their first meeting in Riyadh on the sidelines of the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit to end the Gaza conflict.

–IANS

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London, July 31 (IANS) Violent mob clashed with police outside a mosque in northwest England’s Southport near the scene of a horror stabbing that left three dead.

Merseyside Police said that the English Defence League is believed to be behind the violent protests.

Speculation about the alleged attacker’s identity circulated online, fuelling the tension that already existed after Monday’s horrific knife attack, The Sun reported.

Protesters threw bricks at the mosque, set fire to cars and wheelie bins and caused damage to a local convenience store, police said.

At least 22 police officers, responding to the situation, were injured and 11 were hospitalised after clashes.

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Sao Paulo, July 31 (IANS) At least three people died, including a one-year-old baby, 16 others were injured and nine were missing after a boat capsized in northern Brazil’s Amazon River, police have reported.

The boat, “M. Monteiro”, was carrying more than 200 passengers when it caught fire after an explosion on Monday near the municipality of Uarini in the Amazonas state, Xinhua news agency reported.

Police spokesperson and a statement from the Navy on Tuesday said that at least 183 people managed to survive.

The vessel left Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, on Saturday, bound for Tabatinga, a Brazilian city on the border with Colombia and Peru.

It was the second fire on a passenger boat in Amazonas in three days.

On Saturday, the boat “Comandante Souza III” capsized following a fire, leaving four people dead and five missing.

–IANS

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Tehran, July 31 (IANS) Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned against conspiracies by “enemies and ill-wishers” to sow discord between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

He made the remarks on Tuesday at a meeting with Saudi Minister of State Prince Mansour bin Mutaib bin Abdulaziz, who is also the special representative of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, in the Iranian capital Tehran, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement published on the website of the Iranian president’s office.

Pezeshkian said that “the enemies and those wishing ill towards Iran and Saudi Arabia seek to sow discord between the two countries to achieve their illegitimate demands. Iran and Saudi Arabia should foil such conspiracies through vigilance, unity, and solidarity.”

He described as “constructive” his comprehensive phone call on July 17 with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, stressing, “Relations between Tehran and Riyadh have been tied with religious bonds and commonalities in addition to the neighbourly considerations and brotherly and cordial exchanges.”

The Saudi minister, for his part, conveyed the congratulations of the Saudi king and crown prince to Pezeshkian, saying the age-old relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran were founded on the basis of the two countries’ common history and culture as well as neighbourliness and fraternity.

He stressed that the two peoples had been connected to each other by a common religion, Islam.

The Saudi official voiced the willingness of his country’s leaders to expand relations with Iran, adding that the agreement on the resumption of bilateral relations last year was a beginning for treading the path of safeguarding mutual interests, which would also benefit the region and the world.

Pezeshkian on Tuesday was sworn in as Iran’s ninth president in a ceremony in Tehran.

–IANS

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Jerusalem, July 31 (IANS) Israel’s army has announced that it killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fouad Shokor, in an airstrike in Beirut, saying the assassination was a retaliation for a cross-border rocket that killed 12 youngsters on Saturday.

Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party, did not immediately confirm his condition.

“Tonight, IDF (Israel Defense Forces) conducted a targeted strike in Beirut, eliminating Fouad Shokor, also known as ‘Sayyid Muhsan,’ the most senior military commander and head of the Strategic Unit of Hezbollah,” IDF’s Spokesperson Daniel Hagari told a press briefing in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

Hagari said that Shokor served also as Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah’s “right-hand man” and was Nasrallah’s adviser for planning and directing wartime operations.

In a press release, IDF blamed Shokor for being responsible for the deadly rocket on Saturday that hit a football pitch in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The commander “was responsible for the majority of Hezbollah’s most advanced weaponry, including precise-guided missiles, cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, long-range rockets, and UAVs. He was responsible for force build-up, planning, and execution of terror attacks against the State of Israel,” IDF said.

A strong blast was heard in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday night, and video footage on social media showed mass destruction of a residential building, with rubble scattered in the street.

Lebanese media reported that at least another person was killed in the Israeli attack and 35 were injured.

–IANS

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