The latest developments in the Middle East war:
- Iranian foreign minister in Beijing -
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met China's top diplomat Wang Yi for talks in Beijing on Wednesday, China's Xinhua news agency reported, without giving details on the discussion.
Iran's Fars news agency earlier said Araghchi would "discuss bilateral relations and regional and international developments with his Chinese counterpart".
- Oil prices slide -
By Ahmad Al Kerdi and Raghed Waked
BEIRUT, May 5 (Reuters) - A private school in the heart of Beirut converted into a wartime shelter has become a flashpoint for social tensions brewing across Lebanon over the mass displacement caused by the war between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
KYIV, May 5 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pitched a drone deal to Bahrain during a visit to the country on Tuesday, advertising Ukraine's battle-tested security expertise.
Since the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran erupted on February 28, Ukraine has been offering its drones and know-how to several Middle Eastern countries suffering from Iran's Shahed drone attacks.
Kyiv has gained unique experience in shooting down Iranian drones and similar Russian-made models as Russia has launched hundreds of thousands of them since its full-blown invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
By John Irish
PARIS, May 5 (Reuters) - U.N. Security Council members will begin talks on Tuesday on a U.S.- and Bahrain‑backed draft resolution that could lead to sanctions against Iran, and potentially authorise force, if Tehran fails to halt attacks and threats to commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, three Western diplomats said.
By Steven Scheer and Elena Rodriguez
JERUSALEM/MADRID, May 5 (Reuters) - An Israeli court has extended by another six days the detention of two activists arrested aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla that was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters near Greece.
Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were detained by Israeli authorities last Wednesday and brought to Israel, while more than 100 other pro-Palestinian activists on the boats were taken to the Greek island of Crete.
WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that a U.S. operation to protect commercial ships from Iran in the Strait of Hormuz is temporary, Washington is not looking for a fight and the ceasefire with Iran is still in effect.
"The ceasefire is not over," Hegseth told reporters.
"We said we would defend and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that, and ultimately, the president can make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire," he said.
RAMALLAH, May 5 (Reuters) - The millionaire businessman son of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to run for a steering role in his 90-year-old father's political party, sources say, as a succession fight looms for control of the embattled Palestinian Authority.
Yasser Abbas runs tobacco and contracting firms in the parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank where the PA exercises limited self rule. His critics have long accused him and his brother Tarek, also a businessman, of using public funds to fuel their businesses, allegations both men reject.
CAIRO/GAZA, May 5 (Reuters) - Israeli strikes killed at least two Palestinians and wounded several others in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said.
Medics said a Palestinian was killed and two others were wounded by an Israeli airstrike near the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City, while another was killed and several others were wounded by Israeli tank shelling near the central area of the enclave.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on either incident.
The United States is "not looking for a fight" over the Strait of Hormuz and its ceasefire with Iran still holds, but any attack on commercial shipping will be met with a "devastating" response, the Pentagon chief said Tuesday.
The warning from Pete Hegseth came on the second day of a US effort to facilitate the transit of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had closed in response to the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.
By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY, May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expects a "frank" meeting with Pope Leo during a visit to the Vatican this week, the U.S. ambassador said on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump took a fresh pot-shot at the pope for criticising the U.S. war in Iran.
"Nations have disagreements, and I think one of the ways that you work through those is ... through fraternity and authentic dialogue," said Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
