The speaker of Tunisia's dissolved parliament appeared on Monday before a judge investigating accusations his party helped Tunisian jihadists travel to fight in Iraq and Syria.

Rached Ghannouchi, an arch-rival of President Kais Saied and also head of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, arrived in the morning at the anti-terror court in a suburb of the capital Tunis, said one of his lawyers, Mokhtar Jemai.

At the end of the hearing, the judge is expected to decide whether or not to charge the 81-year-old.

With their country riven by unrest, Iran's football team are trapped in an impossible position at the World Cup as they head into a decisive clash with the United States.

They are criticised at home, where the security forces are battling protesters, whether they voice support for demonstrators or they stay quiet.

The Iranians have insisted since the start of the competition that they are in Qatar to "fight for the people and bring them joy".

Iranian football legend Ali Daei on Monday said he had been targeted by threats after backing ongoing protests in Iran triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini.

Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin, died on September 16, three days after her arrest by the notorious morality police while visiting Tehran with her younger brother.

Daei, whose 109 goals at international level was long unsurpassed until he was overtaken by Cristiano Ronaldo, played in Iran's legendary 1998 2-1 World Cup victory against the United States.

Police have smashed a huge drugs "super-cartel" that controlled around a third of Europe's cocaine trade, arresting 49 people in various countries, including six chief suspects in Dubai, Europol said on Monday.

The international operation codenamed "Desert Light" seized 30 tonnes of the drug and led to arrests in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Spain, the European Union's police agency said in a statement.

The roof is caved in, a wall has exploded and broken glass litters the floor at a base of the exiled Kurdish-Iranian opposition in mountainous northern Iraq.

"These are the regime's missiles," said Karim Farkhapour, a leader of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), with a revolver strapped to his traditional belt.

"The Iranian regime has bombed us three times in less than two months."

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been torn by over two months of protests sparked by the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22.

Iraq has recovered "part" of $2.5 billion in public funds fraudulently withdrawn from a government account, the prime minister said Sunday, calling on guilty parties to hand themselves in and return all the money.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said a wealthy businessman implicated in the theft from tax authorities had given back $125 million out of more than $1 billion that he "confessed" to having received.

Businessman Nour Zuhair Jassem will be subject to an assets freeze and released on condition of recovering the remaining funds within two weeks, Sudani added.

Twenty-four years after their first World Cup meeting billed as the "Mother of all football matches", Iran and the United States face off in a politically-charged showdown on Tuesday with a place in the knockout rounds up for grabs.

Decades of mutual enmity between the arch geopolitical foes is the backdrop to what promises to be a white-hot sporting occasion at Doha's Al Thumama Stadium.

In the context of the tournament, the stakes are simple -- a win for either team secures a place in the last 16 while defeat will guarantee elimination.

Thousands of Kurds protested on Sunday in the Syrian city of Qamishli against days of deadly Turkish cross-border strikes targeting Kurdish groups in the country's northeast.

Turkey announced last Sunday it had carried out air strikes against semi-autonomous Kurdish zones in north and northeastern Syria, and across the border in Iraq. It has also threatened a ground offensive in those areas of Syria.

Shafeeq Saqafi paid $3 for the Argentina shirt he proudly wore when he sat with 15,000 other migrant workers in a hidden corner of Doha to watch Lionel Messi's side salvage their World Cup.

Messi's goal in the 2-0 win over Mexico late Saturday brought the biggest crowd seen at the Asian Town stadium to their feet and Saqafi beat his chest in delight.

Saqafi and his friends bristle at European media suggestions that they are "fake fans" but readily acknowledge that they buy counterfeit team shirts for $3 or less, instead of the $90 which official kit costs.

Iranian authorities on Saturday released on bail former international footballer Voria Ghafouri and prominent dissident Hossein Ronaghi, two of the most prominent figures detained in the crackdown on the protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, reports said.

The arrest on Thursday of Ghafouri, who is Kurdish and had spoken out in support of the protests, had sparked an outcry as the Iranian team plays in the World Cup in Doha.