The head of the Russian National Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev said on Tuesday that Iranian defenses downed a U.S. spy drone last week while the aircraft was in Iranian airspace. Speaking at the opening of a meeting in Jerusalem with his U.S. and Israeli counterparts John Bolton and...

Britain's most advanced military aircraft, the Lightning F-35B, has flown its first missions over Syria and Iraq as part of ongoing operations against remnants of the Islamic State group, the U.K.'s defense secretary said. Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt said in a statement released...

President Donald Trump Tuesday threatened to attack Iran in retaliation for any strikes by Tehran "on anything American," after Iran said new U.S. sanctions precluded any diplomacy and called the White House actions "mentally retarded." "Iran's very ignorant and insulting statement, put out...

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated Tuesday throughout the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip against the launch of the US administration's Middle East peace plan. Around 3,000 people protested in Nablus in the northern West Bank, with dozens attending demonstrations in Ramallah and...

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that new US sanctions against senior Iranian officials including top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif showed Washington is "lying" about an offer to negotiate. "At the same time as you call for negotiations you seek to sanction the foreign minister?...

After a wait of two and a half years, the US administration is launching its Middle East peace plan Tuesday -- with an economic initiative that the Palestinians are boycotting. For this most unconventional of US presidents, Donald Trump's Middle East peace-making bid is unlike decades of...

Iran said on Tuesday that new US sanctions targeting the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials meant a “permanent closure” of diplomacy between Tehran and Washington. US President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing the sanctions on Monday,...

Israel blocked fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip Tuesday, citing new incendiary balloons from the Palestinian enclave. The move follows "the release of arson balloons from the Gaza Strip toward the State of Israel" which caused fires across the border, the Israeli defence ministry...

Iraq’s parliament approved on Monday three more ministers, including the defense and interior portfolios put forward by Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, lawmakers said. But the nominee for minister of education, the only remaining portfolio, failed to get enough votes. Najah...

The new economic sanctions that the United States is preparing to impose on Iran will have no "impact," a spokesman for the Islamic republic's foreign ministry said Monday. "We really do not know what [the new sanctions] are and what they want to target anymore, and also do not consider...

U.S. President Donald Trump is ready to talk to Iran about a deal that would lift American sanctions but Tehran would need to curtain its nuclear and missile program, as well as its support for proxies, a senior U.S. official said Monday. U.S. Special Representative on Iran Brian Hook told...

Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs warned Iran there would be more sanctions if it continued its "aggressive polices," but said Riyadh wanted to avoid war. "Today, Iran is under severe economic sanctions," Adel al-Jubeir told Le Monde newspaper in an interview published...

The UN rights chief called Monday for countries to repatriate family members of suspected foreign fighters in Syria, including some 29,000 foreign children of Islamic State group jihadists. The situation of foreign fighters and their families topped a long line of concerns listed by...

Finance officials were flying into Bahrain on Monday for a US-led peace conference that holds out billions of dollars for the Palestinians, whose leaders pronounced the idea dead on arrival. Led by President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, the Peace to Prosperity...

Iran said Monday that no cyber attack against the Islamic republic has ever succeeded, after American media reported the U.S. launched one last week amid a standoff between the two countries. "The media are asking about the veracity of the alleged cyber attack against Iran. No successful...

The trial against 16 people accused of terror charges and organizing anti-government protests in 2013 has begun in Turkey as rights groups say the allegations are baseless. The trial is taking place Monday and Tuesday in a prison complex on Istanbul's outskirts. The 657-page indictment...

If the United States wants Iran to offer concessions that go beyond the terms of its 2015 nuclear deal, Washington must offer incentives that also exceed those in the deal, an adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday. The comments were a rare indication from Tehran that it...

U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said Monday that 55,000 former Daesh (ISIS) fighters, including foreigners, and their families detained in Syria and Iraq should face fair prosecution or be freed. States "must assume responsibility for their nationals" and should not inflict...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived Monday in Saudi Arabia for talks on coordinating with the close ally amid mounting tensions with Iran. Pompeo is expected to meet in the Red Sea city of Jeddah with King Salman and the powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, before flying for...

In a blow to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an opposition candidate declared victory in the Istanbul mayor's race for a second time Sunday after the government-backed candidate conceded defeat in a high-stakes repeat election. Thank you, Istanbul," former businessman Ekrem...