Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Thursday that Iran is ready to rebuild Beirut port and that Iranian firms can build two power plants in Lebanon within 18 months.

He stated in a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Abdullah Bou Habib that “Iranian specialized companies are willing to build two power plants with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts in Beirut and the South within 18 months.”

Long queues returned to Lebanon’s gas stations on Thursday amid a delay in the issuance of the weekly prices schedule by the Ministry of Energy.

The delay has been blamed on a rise in the price of oil globally and on a surge in the dollar exchange rate on the black market in Lebanon.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived overnight in Lebanon on an official visit to meet with Lebanese leaders.

He was welcomed at the airport by a delegation from Amal movement and Hizbullah, along with the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, the Director of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a delegation of religious scholars.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib met Wednesday with Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides in Beirut.

The meeting was followed by a joint press conference.

The energy ministers of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria met in Amman on Wednesday and agreed on a timeframe for supplying Lebanon with Jordanian electricity via Syria.

During the meeting, “a work plan and a timeframe were presented to reactivate the electrical connection line between Jordan and Syria, and to carry out all the technical studies and prepare the necessary treaties for the implementation of the supply process,” Jordan’s news agency said.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will "provide up to $29 million to deliver reliable energy across all regions of Lebanon," the U.S. Embassy said on Wednesday.

The Embassy added in a statement that USAID has awarded a contract to IMC Worldwide, Inc. to implement the Innovation for Affordable and Renewable Energy for All (INARA) Activity under the Initiative to Deliver Essential Assistance and Services (IDEAS) Project that is designed to provide up to $29 million to deliver reliable energy across all regions of Lebanon.

The Association of Banks and the Bank of Beirut in central Beirut closed their doors Wednesday to protect their Chairman Salim Sfeir as depositors arrived at the place in a protest, the Mottahidoun protest movement group said.

One of the depositors tried to go into the bank to claim access to her deposits and was prevented from entering the bank, the Mouttahidoun added.

The army on Tuesday announced the confiscation of more than 28 tons of ammonium nitrate in the eastern border town of Arsal.

“After information was received about the presence of ammonium nitrate in the town of Arsal, an army force and an Intelligence Directorate patrol raided a gas station in the aforementioned town on October 4, 2021,” an army statement said.

Beirut port blast investigative judge Tarek Bitar has scheduled sessions for the interrogation of three former ministers and ex-PM Hassan Diab, TV networks said on Tuesday.

The TV networks said ex-minister Ali Hassan Khalil has been summoned to appear before Bitar on October 12 while Ghazi Zoaiter and Nouhad al-Mashnouq have been summoned for questioning on October 13. Both dates precede the date of parliament’s return to session, which means that the ex-ministers who are also incumbent MPs will not enjoy parliamentary immunity.

AUB President Fadlo Khuri has expressed his pride in Professor Ardem Patapoutian, who was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, through a congratulatory letter in which he expressed that the AUB community is doubly pleased as Patapoutian is not only Lebanese, but also a former student at the American University of Beirut.

Patapoutian, professor of neuroscience at Scripps Research institute in California, an American University of Beirut (AUB) alumnus and former student, has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Committee in Stockholm announced Monday that Patapoutian and his fellow molecular biologist David Julius have been awarded for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch. Patapoutian is the first AUB alumnus to win a Nobel Prize.