Iran will likely escape new United Nations sanctions, though the U.N. Security Council could issue a public reprimand for recent launches of what Western officials described as ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, diplomats said. Council diplomats said the...

Iranian state media says a gas canister explosion in Tehran's Grand Bazaar has wounded 39 people. The official IRNA news agency said Wednesday's blast happened in the basement of a building in the heart of the bazaar, which was packed with people shopping ahead of the Iranian new year. The...

Russia has supplied weapons to Iraqi Kurds, the first shipment arrived on March 14, RIA news agency quoted the Russian consulate in Iraq as saying on Wednesday. The supply included five Zu-23-2 anti-aircraft cannons and 20,000 shells for the cannons, RIA said.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces, an Iran-backed Shi'ite militia and Iraq's army will launch an offensive soon to push Islamic State fighters away from the northern oil region of Kirkuk, a state newspaper reported on Wednesday. The operation would bring the combined forces closer to...