Turkey will offer to mediate between Washington and Tehran during a visit by Iran's foreign minister on Friday, officials said, as Ankara considers reinforcing security along its border should the dispute escalate.

Friday's visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi comes after US President Donald Trump threatened a military strike on Iran over its deadly protest crackdown earlier this month.

A US naval strike group arrived in Middle East waters on Monday with Trump warning it was "ready, willing and able" to hit Iran "if necessary".

ANKARA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will visit Turkey on Friday for talks with his counterpart Hakan Fidan on the recent developments in Iran and tensions with the United States, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran on Wednesday to come to the table and make a deal on nuclear weapons or the next U.S. attack would be far worse. Trump has sent an "armada" to the Middle East and warned Tehran against killing anti-government protesters or restarting its nuclear programme.

BERLIN, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday called for a stronger NATO within Europe but said that it should also always extend the hand of cooperation to the United States.

Speaking to the German parliament, Merz also said that Europe will not be cowed by tariff threats any longer.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Matthias Williams, Editing by Friederike Heine)

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Israel's parliament gave initial approval to the 2026 state budget draft on Thursday, handing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a temporary political reprieve by averting the immediate prospect of an early election.

Lawmakers voted 62-55 in favor of the spending plan, which totals 662 billion shekels ($214.43 billion), excluding debt servicing, and sets a budget deficit ceiling of 3.9% of gross domestic product this year.

EU foreign ministers are expected to agree Thursday to put Iran's Revolutionary Guards on the bloc's "terrorist list" after a deadly crackdown on mass protests, the EU's foreign policy chief said.

"If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as terrorists," top diplomat Kaja Kallas told journalists ahead of the ministers' meeting in Brussels.

She said the step puts the Revolutionary Guards on the same level as jihadist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The European Union will most likely include Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on its list of terrorist organisations, the bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Friday ahead of a foreign affairs ministers council.

"We are putting new sanctions on Iran and I also expect we will list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist list," she said.

(Reporting by Lili Bayer and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Inti Landauro)

By Samia Nakhoul, Humeyra Pamuk, Rami Ayyub and Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing options against Iran that include targeted strikes on security forces and leaders to inspire protesters, multiple sources said, even as Israeli and Arab officials said air power alone would not topple the clerical rulers.

Two U.S. sources familiar with the discussions said Trump wanted to create conditions for "regime change" after a crackdown crushed a nationwide protest movement earlier this month, killing thousands of people.

A man was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison at a US court for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist highly critical of Tehran.

Carlisle Rivera, 50, was arrested in November 2024 before carrying out the plan that the US Justice Department said was directed by the government of Iran.

Alinejad is one of the most prominent dissident campaigners against Iranian authorities and for years has pushed for the abolition of the obligatory headscarf in Iran under the banner of "MyStealthyFreedom."

She left Iran in 2009.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for taking part in what prosecutors called a failed Iran-backed murder-for-hire plot against Masih Alinejad, a prominent Iranian dissident living in the U.S., the Justice Department said.

By John Irish and Michel Rose

PARIS, Jan 28 (Reuters) - France will now support the inclusion of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the European list of terrorist organisations, a move that Paris has always been hesitant to back for fear that it could cut ties with Iran.

European Union foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday and were already due to sign off on new sanctions in response to a crackdown on protests that has seen thousands killed and thousands more arrested.