Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian yesterday said an agreement is “close” in paused negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

Amnesty International on Friday lambasted any move by Turkey to transfer the Istanbul trial of 26 suspects in the 2018 murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi to Riyadh.

Israeli security forces killed three gunmen from the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in a shootout in the occupied West Bank yesterday.

Yemen’s warring parties were yesterday set to lay down their weapons for the first nationwide truce since 2016 with all eyes on whether the UN-brokered ceasefire will hold.

A Turkish prosecutor called on Thursday for the trial in Istanbul of Saudi suspects over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be halted and transferred to Saudi authorities, a move which comes as Turkey seeks to mend ties with Riyadh.

Iran has once again denied women entry to a football stadium to watch an international match, leaving hundreds of ticketed fans locked out, Iranian media said.

Israeli security forces were on high alert yesterday after a Palestinian gunman killed five people in a Tel Aviv suburb. Prime Minister Naftali

Turkey yesterday said a second mine which could have come from Ukraine was discovered off its coast near Bulgaria, adding that experts had been sent to defuse it.

Two suspected Arab gunmen killed two people in Israel on Sunday and were then shot dead, an ambulance service said, as the U.S. secretary of state and three Arab foreign ministers visited the country for a summit.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have expressed regret at a lack of attention to Middle East conflicts, as the West pushes them to show more solidarity with Ukraine.

The Saudi-led coalition yesterday launched air strikes on Yemen hours after Huthi rebels announced a three-day truce, with the UN chief condemning a surge in violence as the war enters its eighth year.

The European Union’s coordinator for talks to restore the Iran nuclear deal, Enrique Mora, said he was hoping to close gaps in the negotiations ahead of his expected arrival in Tehran.

Yemen's Houthis said they launched attacks on Saudi energy facilities on Friday and the Saudi-led coalition said oil giant Aramco's petroleum products distribution station in Jeddah was hit, causing a fire in two storage tanks but no casualties.

An Arab assailant killed at least four people in Israel's southern city of Beersheba on Tuesday in the deadliest such attack in years, before he was fatally shot by a passer-by, police said.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group fired missiles and drones at Saudi energy and water desalination facilities, causing a temporary drop in output at a refinery but no casualties, the Saudi energy ministry said yesterday.

Turkey’s foreign minister said in an interview published yesterday that Russia and Ukraine were nearing agreement on “critical” issues and he was hopeful for a ceasefire if the two sides did not backtrack from progress achieved so far.

A Palestinian assailant stabbed an Israeli passer-by in Jerusalem yesterday before being shot and wounded by Israeli police, the police said.

The United Nations and aid groups have warned of grave consequences for Yemen after an international pledging conference failed to raise enough money to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the war-torn country.

Iran warned yesterday that it won’t tolerate “threats” coming from Iraq, a day after firing ballistic missiles at what it said was an Israeli site in the neighbouring country.

Iran claimed responsibility for a missile strike yesterday on the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, saying it targeted an Israeli “strategic centre”.