July 25 (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned on Saturday a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, saying it resulted in an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another.

Throughout the war in Ukraine, Kyiv has had to counter Iranian-designed drones deployed by Moscow. Kyiv has offered its drone interception expertise to countries in the Middle East that have suffered strikes from Iran.

By Lefteris Papadimas and Idrees Ali

ATHENS/WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast on Saturday, but the U.S. held back from launching air strikes on Iran for the first night in two weeks.

Washington gave no immediate explanation of why it had abruptly halted a streak of 13 nights of escalating strikes in retaliation for Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz since an interim deal to end hostilities collapsed.

By Ali Sawafta

RAMALLAH, July 25 (Reuters) - Israeli forces arrested dozens of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, after at least four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed in a shootout when armed Israeli settlers approached a Palestinian village.

By Federico Maccioni, Timour Azhari and Eman Abouhassira

RIYADH, July 25 (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants fired on Saudi oil installations in two ports on the Red Sea coast on Saturday and Saudi-backed forces bombed the Houthis, as the war in the Gulf that has disrupted global supplies extended to a second front.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had targeted and successfully struck sites belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu.

By Tala Ramadan and Kinda Makieh

DAMASCUS, July 25 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged help for Syrian reconstruction on Saturday during the first visit to Damascus by a serving United Nations chief since 2009, before the start of a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa received Guterres at the presidential palace in Damascus, state news agency SANA said, without providing further details.

By Ali Sawafta

RAMALLAH, West Bank, July 25 (Reuters) - Palestinian officials welcomed UNESCO's designation of Sebastia in the occupied West Bank as a World Heritage site, hoping it will prevent Israel extending its control at the ancient village, while Israel condemned it as a political decision.

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for an end to Israeli violations in Syria and urged international support for the country's transition on his first visit under the new authorities following years of civil war.

Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where they deployed in 2024 after the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Tell on Saturday buried four men killed during a clash with Israeli settlers the previous day, local officials said.

Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has surged since the Gaza war began with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and the clash in Tell has already had political repercussions.

On Friday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that, following the deaths of two Israelis in the village, he would allow the establishment of more settlements in the region.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the U.S. next week.

Trump's comments came in his speech at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner on Friday, while he was falsely casting U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer as Palestinian.

"I am going to send him (Schumer) a beautiful Palestinian outfit tomorrow, so he can greet Bibi Netanyahu when he comes to town next week," Trump said.

By Steve Holland and Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Friday said he would not go forward with a civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia unless the Saudis agreed to a normalization in relations with Israel under theAbraham Accords.

The U.S. Department of Energy said on Wednesday that Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his Saudi counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman had signed an agreement on developing the first commercial nuclear reactors in oil-rich Saudi Arabia and that it would next go to Congress for review.