By Asif Shahzad and Mubasher Bukhari

ISLAMABAD, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Pakistan has boosted security and arrested dozens of suspects as it fearsrising wave of militant attacks following its air strikes in Afghanistan,Pakistan's Junior Interior Minister said on Wednesday.

"Our forces are on high-alert to combat any attacks," the minister,TalalChaudhry, told Reuters. "You know the militants always react whenever we go after their hideouts in Afghanistan."

DUBAI, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Ali Shamkhani, who taunted Israel after being pulled alive from the rubble of his Tehran home following a strike in June 2025, has survived at the centre of Iranian policy-making during its most testing military confrontations and diplomatic endeavours.

The 70-year-old former Revolutionary Guard commander is a trusted adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a high-stakes standoff with the U.S. that could determine whether the Islamic Republic, born from revolution in 1979, survives to half a century.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told lawmakers in Jerusalem on Wednesday that India stands "firmly" with Israel following Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023.

Modi also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a two-day visit aimed at deepening trade and defence ties that has drawn criticism at home.

"I... carry with me the deepest condolences of the people of India for every life lost and for every family whose world was shattered in the barbaric terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7," Modi said in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

ANKARA, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Turkey is evaluating all aspects of potential measures that may be taken in the event of a conflict between its neighbour Iran and the United States, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Iran and the United States resumed negotiations earlier this month as Washington builds up military capability in the Middle East. Iran has threatened to strike U.S. bases in the region if it is attacked, but Tehran's top diplomat said on Tuesday that a deal with the U.S. was "within reach" if diplomacy is prioritised.

Iran on Wednesday dismissed US claims about its missile programme as "big lies", after President Donald Trump said Tehran was developing missiles that could strike the United States.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump accused Tehran of "sinister nuclear ambitions" as Washington ups the pressure with a massive military deployment around the Gulf.

The two foes are scheduled to meet for a third round of talks on Thursday in the Swiss city of Geneva in an effort to reach a diplomatic solution.

By Alexander Cornwell

JERUSALEM, Feb 25 (Reuters) - India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Israel on Wednesday for a two-day visit that both countries have cast as a chance to deepen relations, as regional concerns mount over the risk of military conflict between the United States and Iran.

Modi, a Hindu nationalist, became the first prime minister in India's history to visit Israel in 2017, during which he and right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a barefoot stroll on a beach in the northern port city of Haifa.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed Iran is seeking to develop missiles that can strike the United States and accused Tehran of working to rebuild a nuclear program that was targeted by American strikes last year.

The United States and Iran are engaged in high-stakes negotiations over Iran's atomic program and other issues including missiles, with Trump saying he prefers diplomacy but is willing to use force if talks fail.

Along Egypt's Mediterranean coast, the oldest tram in Africa and the Middle East rumbles for a final few weeks before its removal -- the latest urban upheaval Alexandrians say is hollowing out their city's identity.

Government plans to replace the colourful streetcars on one of the city's routes with a partially elevated light rail line have angered Alexandrians, for whom the 163-year-old track is "heritage, not just a means of transport", local urban researcher Nahla Saleh told AFP.

When US and Iranian negotiators meet on Thursday in Geneva, Iran's top security chief Ali Larijani will be Tehran's key player behind the scenes.

Adept at balancing ideological loyalty with pragmatic statecraft, Larijani will not attend the talks, but is central to Tehran's nuclear policy and strategic diplomacy.

At the end of January, Larijani was Tehran's choice to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and this month he has met with Gulf officials trying to mediate in the stand-off with the United States.

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. on Tuesday issued cyber-related sanctions against four people and three entities, including some based in Russia and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Treasury Department website.

The entities and people were targeted "for their acquisition and distribution of cyber tools harmful to U.S. national security," the Treasury Department said in a statement.