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By Mariam Rizk and Mohamed Ezz

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt Jan 29 (Reuters) - As the blue-and-white tram carriages rattle into a large square in the heart of Alexandria, doors creak open to a crush of passengers, many of whom can recite every stop by heart.

But the clatter of single and double-deck trams along this century-and-a-half-old line – a source of civic pride and transport alike for tens of thousands of daily commuters in Egypt's second city – is soon to be stopped.

Faced with political deadlock, open American meddling and the threat of war across its borders, is Iraq being dragged back to darker times after achieving hard-won stability?

After decades of conflict and chaos, Iraq has recently regained a sense of normalcy, yet its politics is haunted by the struggle to balance relations with its two main allies, Iran and the United States.

Washington makes no secret of its will to interfere in Iraqi domestic decision-making. While Iraqis discussed choosing their next premier, US representatives lobbied.

BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers have agreed to add Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the bloc's list of terrorist organisations, European Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday on social media platform X.

"EU Foreign Ministers just took the decisive step of designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation. Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise", Kallas said.

(Reporting by Lili Bayer, writing by Louise Rasmussen, editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout)

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Plainclothes Iranian security forces have rounded up thousands of people in a campaign of mass arrests and intimidation to deter further protests after crushing the bloodiest unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, sources told Reuters.

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar

KABUL, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Afghanistan will roll out a $100 million food security project, the United Nations said on Thursday, as it contends with a worsening hunger crisis driven by mass deportations of Afghans from neighbouring states, foreign aid cuts and economic crisis.

Afghanistan's humanitarian situation is deteriorating sharply, with millions pushed into hunger by the loss of remittances, limited job opportunities and a sharp reduction in international assistance.

MOSCOW, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Russia is ready to evacuate its staff from Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant if necessary, Alexei Likhachev, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation, was cited as saying on Thursday by the state news agency TASS.

President Vladimir Putin said last year that hundreds of Russians were working at the facility, Iran's only operating nuclear power plant, which Moscow built for Iran.

More nuclear facilities are currently being built at the Bushehr site by Russia.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which EU ministers agreed on Thursday to designate as a terrorist organisation, is the ideological army of the Islamic republic tasked with preserving the future of the revolution but which activists say played a frontline role in suppressing protests.

Celebrated as a pillar of the theocratic system by the Iranian authorities, it is accused by the West of militant activity abroad and serial rights violations at home.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he hoped to avoid military action against Iran, which has threatened to strike American bases and aircraft carriers in response to any attack.

Trump said he is speaking with Iran and left open the possibility of avoiding a military operation after earlier warning time was "running out" for Tehran as the United States sends a large naval fleet to the region.

When asked if he would have talks with Iran, Trump told reporters: "I have had and I am planning on it."

CAIRO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Israeli fire killed at least two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, health officials said, in the latest incident of violence, as Hamas and Israel braced to implement the second phase of the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal.

Medics said two men were killed by Israeli forces in eastern Khan Younis, in an area adjacent to where the army operates. The Israeli military didn't make an immediate comment.

The Gaza health ministry said Israeli fire has killed at least 490 people since the truce began in October in the war-shattered enclave.

MOSCOW, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday told his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan that Russia was closely monitoring the situation in Iran and wanted to discuss it with him in Kremlin talks.

Putin made the comment at the start of talks with the UAE president whose country has recently hosted peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.