A senior Iraqi Kurdistan official told AFP the United States was not arming Iranian Kurdish opposition groups exiled in the autonomous region, reiterating his government opposed the groups' involvement in the Middle East war.

Since the war began on February 28 with Israeli-US strikes on Iran, Iraq has been drawn into a conflict it had sought to avoid at all costs.

US President Donald Trump initially appeared to support an offensive by Kurdish armed groups against Iran, before backtracking.

VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France, March 27 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of the G7 group of nations called on Friday for an immediate stop to attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Iran war.

In a joint statement agreed on the second day of a G7 meeting in France - this year's host country - the ministers said they had underscored the importance of minimising the impact of the conflict on regional partners, civilian populations and critical infrastructure.

By Jana Winter and AJ Vicens

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - Iran-linked hackers have publicly claimed the breach of FBI Director Kash Patel's personal inbox, publishing photographs of the director and his purported resume to the internet.

On their website, the hacker group Handala Hack Team said Patel "will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims."

By Samia Nakhoul

DUBAI, March 27 (Reuters) - Gulf Arab states are telling the U.S. that any deal with Tehran should do more than end the war, and must permanently curb Iran's missile and drone capabilities and ensure global energy supplies are never again "weaponised", four Gulf sources said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has extended his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which carries ​about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, or face the destruction of its energy plants.

By Ece Toksabay

BELEK, Turkey, March 27 (Reuters) - Iran’s men's national soccer team wore black armbands and held schoolbags as their anthem played ahead of a match in Turkey on Friday in what a team official said was a protest over the killing of schoolgirls on the first day of the Iran war.

Iran were playing a friendly against Nigeria in the resort town of Belek ahead of the World Cup in the U.S., Mexico and Canada where their participation is in doubt over the conflict.

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Two Chinese container ships turned backed after trying to exit the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, ship-tracking data showed, despite assurances from Iran that Chinese vessels could pass.

The operator, China's COSCO, had said in a March 25 client advisory that it had resumed bookings for general cargo containers for shipments from Asia to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq.

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By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, Jonathan Landay and Erin Banco

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - The United States can only determine with certainty that it has destroyed about a third of Iran's vast missile arsenal as the U.S. and Israeli war on the country nears its one-month mark, according to five people familiar with the U.S. intelligence.

Iran has warned the United States about attempting to seize any of its strategic islands in the Gulf -- a move that President Donald Trump is reported to be mulling. AFP looks at potential targets.

- Kharg -

A strip of scrubland located in the northern Gulf, about 30 kilometres from the coast, Kharg is home to Iran’s largest oil terminal, which accounts for around 90 percent of its crude exports, according to a recent note from the American bank JP Morgan.

In mid-March it was targeted by US airstrikes.

By Pesha Magid

JERUSALEM, March 27 (Reuters) - Some are the size of small trucks, and they've come crashing to the ground almost daily for a month -- littering school yards, roadsides and hilltops with visceral remnants of a Middle East at war.

Across Israel and the occupied West Bank, massive chunks of Iranian ballistic missiles have slammed to the earth after being shot out of the sky by Israeli air defence systems.

GENEVA, March 27 (Reuters) - The U.N. rights chief urged Washington to conclude its investigation into a fatal strike on a primary school in Iran at a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting on Friday, with some states voicing outrage over the incident.

The emergency debate at the Geneva council was called by Iran to discuss the attack on the Shajareh ​Tayyebeh School which Tehran says killed more than 175 children and teachers on the first day of the nearly month-long regional war which began with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes.