UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday slammed the world's rich countries and energy giants for throttling poor nations with "predatory" interest rates and crippling fuel prices.

Speaking in the Qatari capital, Doha, Guterres told leaders of more than 40 of the most deprived states that wealthy nations should provide $500 billion a year to help others "trapped in vicious cycles" that block efforts to boost economies and vital services.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Saturday he had "constructive" talks with Iranian officials in Tehran after the discovery of uranium particles enriched to near weapons-grade level.

The two-day visit by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) comes as the Vienna-based organisation seeks greater cooperation with Iran over its nuclear activities.

The UN human rights chief on Friday denounced the "unfathomable" call by an Israeli minister for a flashpoint Palestinian town to be "wiped out", urging an end to the violence.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made his comments on Wednesday, days after two settlers were shot dead in Huwara, killings, that led to Israeli settlers to attack the northern West Bank town.

"I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out," Smotrich said. "I think the State of Israel should do it."

Iran dismissed as "false" Friday a claim by the British and US navies that Iranian weapons had been seized from a smuggling boat apparently headed to Yemen.

The foreign ministry accused the Western allies of attempting to divert attention from their own arming of a Saudi-led coalition that has waged a devastating campaign against Yemen's Iran-backed rebels since 2015.

The head of one of Lebanon's top security agencies retired Friday without a replacement, a casualty of the political and institutional paralysis which is stoking fears of a broader breakdown.

"The country is in a state of almost total disintegration," said analyst Karim Bitar.

"We are seeing the collapse of all state institutions that were still holding up."

Lebanon is navigating a devastating economic crisis that has plunged more than 80 percent of the population into poverty, according to the United Nations.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Tehran Friday for talks after his agency's inspectors in Iran found uranium particles enriched to just under weapons-grade level.

The visit by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency comes with the Vienna-based organisation seeking Iran's increased cooperation over its nuclear activities.

Grossi was greeted at the airport by Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, and later met with its head, Mohammad Eslami.

Details of their discussion were not immediately available.

Four astronauts entered the International Space Station on Friday after their SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission successfully docked, a NASA livestream showed.

The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft arrived at the orbiting station at 0640 GMT on Friday, the US space agency said in a statement.

NASA's Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Russia's Andrey Fedyaev and Sultan al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates entered the station about two hours later, the livestream showed.

Turkey's inflation rate slowed for a fourth straight month in February, data showed Friday, but remained in double-digits ahead of elections where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's economic record will be a key issue for voters.

The inflation report comes as the government prepares to pour billions of dollars into rebuilding huge swathes of Turkey following the massive earthquake that struck on February 6.

UN countries appeared Friday to be nearing an agreement on a long-awaited treaty to protect the high seas, a fragile and vital treasure that covers nearly half the planet.

After more than 15 years of informal and then formal talks, negotiators are coming to the end of two more weeks of discussions, the third "final" session in less than a year.

Egypt's oil ministry has announced a rise in the price of fuel effective Thursday, as the Arab world's most populous nation struggles with inflation and is sapped dry of dollars.

The Egyptian economy was hit hard after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine unsettled global investors, leading them to pull billions out of the North African country.

The war has sent wheat prices spiralling, heavily impacting Egypt -- one of the world's largest grain importers -- and piling pressure on its foreign currency reserves.