Cairo, Aug 3: A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck northeast of Sharm el-Sheikh early Monday, Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics said.

The earthquake occurred at around 3:00 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) at a depth of 10 km, with its epicentre located at 30.19 degrees north latitude and 32.61 degrees east longitude, according to the institute.

The institute said it had received reports that the tremor was felt by residents, “without any loss of life or property.” Xinhua correspondents also felt noticeable tremors in Cairo, the Egyptian capital.

Following the earthquake, Egypt’s Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar ordered the immediate activation of the country’s health emergency plan and the convening of the ministry’s central crisis and emergency operations room.

The ministry raised the alert level to the highest at emergency and critical-care departments in hospitals nationwide and confirmed the readiness of ambulances and rapid-response teams.

It said the health situation remained stable, and no earthquake-related injuries had been reported.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Red Crescent activated emergency plans in cities where the earthquake was felt and said it had received no reports of casualties or property damage.

Egypt lies close to active tectonic zones around the Gulf of Suez, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, making the country susceptible to occasional moderate earthquakes, although most result in little to no damage.

Located in the Mediterranean Sea, where the African Plate slides beneath the Eurasian Plate, causing moderate to strong seismic activity felt in northern Egypt.

Seoul, Aug 3: South Korea and the United States on Monday launched a joint underwater excavation project in waters off the country’s eastern coast to find wreckage of US aircraft that went down during the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul’s defence ministry said.

The project, which is scheduled to run through August 28, will take place in Gangneung and Yangyang in Gangwon Province, involving the ministry’s Agency for KIA Recovery & Identification and the US Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

Some 40 people will be deployed for the project, including personnel from the South Korean Navy’s First Fleet and the Air Force’s 18th Fighter Wing, as well as US underwater planners and divers, according to the ministry.

The search will begin in waters off Yangyang County, about 215 kilometres east of Seoul, to find the wreckage of a US F4U Corsair fighter aircraft. The fighter jet crashed while conducting an escort mission of another damaged US attack aircraft in February 1952, leaving one pilot dead, records showed.

The research team will then focus on retrieving the wreckage of US military transport aircraft, known as the Curtiss C-46 Commando, which went down in the Gangneung area, about 170 kilometres east of Seoul, in October and November 1952, on two separate occasions, reports Xinhua news agency.

The incident left a total of 17 people missing from the plane crash in the first case, whereas two people were found dead and seven others missing in the November plane crash.

The joint survey team plans to conduct the search using underwater detector equipment and maritime unmanned systems, and deploy divers or remote sensing devices to inspect the scene upon finding the remains.

Seoul and Washington have made joint efforts to find the remains of US soldiers killed during the conflict after signing an agreement to conduct such excavations in 2011.

Tehran, Aug 3: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran must “compel” the United States to remain committed to the peace memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries.

He made the remarks in a post on social media platform X, saying that there is a consonance among members of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on the MoU.

Pezeshkian said he believes the MoU will be the focal point of Iran’s foreign relations in the future, reports Xinhua news agency.

“We must strive to compel the enemy to adhere to what it has signed. The security of the country, region and our allies will improve with this MoU,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Acting Defense Minister Seyed Majid Ebn Al-Reza said Sunday that Tehran perceives every “enemy” threat as “real and noteworthy,” rejecting any characterization of them as mere psychological warfare.

“We will neither be surprised nor remain passive. We use threats as a basis to increase our preparedness, strengthen our deterrence, and develop our power,” Al-Reza wrote on social media platform X after U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier that he had agreed to hold off fresh attacks against Iran.

In his post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States was “locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” but held off after being “asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries,” citing a forthcoming deal that would include the “Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”

Earlier US media reports had suggested US and Israeli strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure could begin over the weekend.

On June 18, Iran and the United States signed the MoU, under which the two countries were scheduled to hold negotiations within a 60-day period to reach a final agreement. However, the talks’ fate is hanging in the balance due to the recent escalation between them.

The US military launched multiple waves of strikes against Iranian targets last month, saying they were in response to Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and aimed at “degrading Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping.” Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting US military bases and facilities in the region.