Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stressed Tehran’s continued support for Lebanon in a letter that the country’s visiting deputy foreign minister delivered to President Michel Suleiman on Friday.

The letter states “Iran’s permanent support for Lebanon in all fields and at all levels,” a presidential statement said.

The oil sector announced on Friday the suspension of its planned strike on April 2-4 to pave the way for more negotiations with Energy Minister Jebran Bassil.

The decision came following a large-scale meeting held by the Association of Petroleum Importing Companies, the Syndicate of Gas Station Owners and the Syndicate of Tank Owners.

The government has tasked Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and State Minister Marwan Khaireddine with finding a new location for the foreign ministry after experts warned that parts of Bustros Palace could collapse, An Nahar daily reported Friday.

An Nahar said that both Mansour and Khaireddine are now searching for the location for the ministry’s employees, including diplomats and administrative staff.

Speaker Nabih Berri hailed the government for reaching a deal on how to resolve the country’s lingering electricity crisis but criticized it for failing so far to appoint the members of the oil authority.

In remarks to As Safir daily on Friday, Berri said a government session at Baabda Palace on Wednesday “was probably the first productive session for a long time.”

MP Marwan Hamadeh revealed on Friday that the electricity crisis will be discussed during the parliamentary session set to hold a general discussion in April to assess the governments’ performance.

Hamadeh told An Nahar newspaper that the lawmakers will call for a vote of confidence on Energy Minister Jebran Bassil for “violating laws approved a couple of months ago but weren’t implemented.”

The ministerial committee tasked with following up the leasing of power-generating vessels kicked off negotiations with the two companies, a Turkish and an American, which won the tenders, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday.

The daily said that Prime Minister Najib Miqati headed the primary negotiations with the two companies’ representatives, although the committee members are set to resume their meetings on Monday.

More than 3,000 Lebanese, Palestinian and foreign demonstrators marched to the Beaufort Castle in Nabatiyeh on Friday to mark Land Day, an annual protest against discriminatory Israeli land policies.

Waving Palestinian flags and singing Palestinian national songs, the protestors performed the traditional dabke dance as security forces kept them from moving beyond the Crusader-built castle that lies 15 kilometers from the Israeli border.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday described Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil as the “most competent minister” in his government, denying the presence of a dispute with Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi, his main ally in the 2009 parliamentary elections.

“I’m a man of compromises and I propose compromises in a positive spirit,” Miqati said in an interview on LBC, in reference to the latest controversy over the issue of leasing power-generating vessels.

President Michel Suleiman stated on Thursday that Lebanon is adopting positive neutrality regarding regional issues, except the Palestinian cause and the conflict with Israel.

He said at the opening of the Arab League summit in Baghdad: “Lebanon sought to distance itself from the Syrian developments and we hope that United Nations and Arab league envoy Kofi Annan would succeed in his mission to reach a political solution to the crisis.”

The Lebanese General Security handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross a Palestinian national who had swum to Lebanon in September 2011, reported the National News Agency on Thursday.

Ahmed Jamal Mahmoud al-Daaif will then be handed over to Israel.