Israel is waging a "last-minute" offensive to convince its allies to halt talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal with a flurry of diplomatic trips, calls to Western leaders and press briefings.

As the United States responded to Iran's suggestions on reviving the landmark 2015 deal, Israel warned Wednesday of the consequences of going back to the accord.

In 2018, when then US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement that is designed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Israel celebrated.

Younes Ajil turns on the tap in his home but nothing comes out: dozens of villages are without running water in drought-hit Iraq, surviving on sporadic tanker-truck deliveries and salty wells.

For everything from drinking to bathing and washing dishes and clothes, Ajil and his eight children wait at their home in Al-Aghawat for trucked-in water from the Diwaniyah provincial authorities once or twice a week.

In burning summer temperatures that at times approach 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), he said he hasn't bathed for four days.

As Saudi Arabia swelters in sizzling desert temperatures, some are escaping to the "City of Fog" -- a mountainous oasis of cool where warm clothing is needed even in summer.

Sitting with friends on a picnic blanket, under light rain and a thick, swirling mist in Al-Namas, Abdullah Al-Enizi wears a body-warmer over his traditional white robes to guard against the chill.

The United States said Tuesday that Iran has agreed to ease key demands that had held up the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal, with all eyes on what President Joe Biden in turn is offering.

The United States is expected shortly to respond to Iran through European Union mediators, after a year and a half of indirect diplomacy that just weeks ago looked on the verge of collapsing.

The United Nations on Tuesday voiced "deep concern" over growing tensions between rival Libyan forces, calling for "immediate" moves to calm the situation.

The UN's mission UNSMIL said it was "following with deep concern the ongoing mobilisation of forces and threats to resort to force" by groups vying for control of the North African country.

Libya has been ravaged by repeated conflicts since the 2011 revolt that overthrew dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Israeli archaeologists unveiled a 1,200 year-old mansion on Tuesday, broadening knowledge of the southern desert region where a mosque was recently discovered.

Described as a "luxurious rural estate" by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the home boasted a marble-paved hallway and walls decorated with frescoes.

The first building of its kind to be found in the southern Negev desert, according to the IAA, it contained vaulted rooms around a central courtyard.

The remains of oil lamps were unearthed in storage rooms underground, along with a cistern.

Iran's armed forces will on Wednesday launch large scale drone drills across the country involving 150 unmanned aerial vehicles to show off its "power", state media reported Tuesday.

"The accuracy and power of weapons... the capabilities of guidance and control systems and the combat capabilities of drones are among the things that will be tested and evaluated in this exercise," deputy coordinator of the armed forces Admiral Habibollah Sayyari told the state broadcaster.

Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr held a sit-in outside the top judicial body for several hours on Tuesday, ratcheting up tensions in a showdown with a rival Shiite alliance.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi cut short a visit to Egypt where he had been due to take part in a five-nation summit, to return home to monitor developments in his country, which has been mired in political deadlock for months.

Yemen's new school year is underway, but Midian Aoud skips class and washes cars to support his family in its struggle to survive the "misery" of poverty exacerbated by war.

The 12-year-old lives in Taez, a besieged city in the grinding conflict between Iran-backed Huthi rebels and government forces supported by a Saudi-led military coalition.

"My friends are studying and I am not. They are in seventh grade. I dropped out of school to help my parents and support my family," Midian, dressed in a torn T-shirt, told AFP.

Turkey said Tuesday that its restoration of full diplomatic relations with Israel did not mean a shift in Middle Eastern allegiances as it warmly welcomed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

The Palestinian leader met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks and a private dinner on his second visit to Turkey in a year.

The talks came just a week after Turkey and Israel sealed a rapprochement from a decade of rocky relations by announcing plans to reappoint ambassadors for the first time in four years.