Iran's president told the United Nations on Wednesday that his country was not seeking an atomic weapon and demanded US guarantees it would abide by any revived nuclear deal.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is not seeking to build or obtain nuclear weapons and such weapons have no place in our doctrine," President Ebrahim Raisi told the UN General Assembly.
Britain's top diplomat called Wednesday on Iran's leadership to choose "another path" including embrace of a nuclear deal as protests grip the nation after the death of a young woman arrested by morality police.
"The Iranian leadership should notice that the people are unhappy with the direction that they have taken," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told AFP at the United Nations.
"They could abandon their nuclear weapons aspirations. They could stop the repression of voices within their own country. They could stop their destabilizing activities," he said.
Gun battles in central Nablus, with young Palestinians fighting police and setting blazes that shut the city down, signal growing chaos in the northern West Bank that could spiral out of control.
The city centre's transformation into a combat zone happened with little overt warning. On Saturday, shoppers darted peacefully through bustling downtown markets.
US President Joe Biden vowed solidarity with Iranian women Wednesday as eight people were reported killed in growing protests over the death of a young woman arrested by morality police.
Addressing the United Nations shortly after a defiant speech by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Biden saluted the protesters while renewing his support for reviving a nuclear accord with Tehran.
"Today we stand with the brave citizens and the brave women of Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights," Biden told the General Assembly.
A Palestinian suspected of beating an 84-year old Israeli woman to death was found hanged in the heart of Tel Aviv Wednesday, Israeli police said.
Police had launched a massive manhunt for the suspect identified as Mousa Sarsour, 28, following Tuesday's murder in the town of Holon just outside the Israeli metropolis.
"The body of a man has been found on Bar Kochba Street in Tel Aviv and a preliminary examination shows it to be the body of the murder suspect," police said in a statement.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday met for the first time in more than a decade with an Israeli prime minister, with Yair Lapid seeking his help on citizens held by Palestinian militants Hamas.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, a month after the countries announced the restoration of diplomatic ties following years of tensions.
Lapid "brought up the issue of missing and captive Israelis and the importance of bringing them home," the prime minister's office said in a statement.
Iranian dissidents and ex-prisoners including a Western academic on Tuesday announced the filing of a civil suit in New York against Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as he attended the UN General Assembly.
The Islamic republic's hardline president is the target of the complaint for his role as a judge in the 1980s when thousands of people were sentenced to death in the country, according to the advocacy group National Union for Democracy in Iran.
The suit had yet to be made public Tuesday evening by a US federal court in Manhattan.
Global leaders called Tuesday for urgent efforts to address global food insecurity amid fears of disastrous harvests next year, as Ukraine's president blamed Russia for the crisis and sought the world's "toughest reaction" against Moscow.
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, ministers from the European Union, United States, African Union and Spain met on food shortages which are seen as a key factor in conflicts and instability.
Appearing by video link was Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, who directly accused Moscow of willingly triggering a food crisis.
The leader of Tunisia's Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party was questioned through the night over alleged complicity in the departure of jihadist militants for Syria and Iraq, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Rached Ghannouchi, who has been a key player in Tunisian politics for over a decade, appeared before a judge on Wednesday morning after being questioned overnight by specialist anti-terror police.
The 81-year-old, who had left the police station in Tunis at 6:30 am (0530 GMT), is to be interrogated again on November 28, lawyer Samir Dilou said.
International alarm mounted on Tuesday over a deadly crackdown in Iran against protests that erupted over the death of young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini following her arrest by Tehran's notorious morality police.
Amini, 22, died on Friday three days after she was urgently hospitalised following her arrest by police responsible for enforcing Iran's strict dress code for women.
Activists said she suffered a blow to the head in custody but this has not been confirmed by Iranian authorities, who have opened an investigation.
