Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a thorough investigation Sunday into the causes of a major blast at a key southern port that killed at least 40 people and injured more than 1,000.
His instructions came after President Masoud Pezeshkian visited the blast scene in Shahid Rajaee Port near the strategic Strait of Hormuz where a fire still blazed on Sunday more than 24 hours after the explosion.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas appointed a close aide as the first ever vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Saturday, positioning him as a potential successor to the veteran leader.
Hussein al-Sheikh was appointed by Abbas, 89, after the vice presidency position was created during a convention held in Ramallah this week.
The new post follows years of international pressure to reform the PLO and comes as Arab and Western powers envision an expanded role for Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA) in the post-war governance of the Gaza Strip.
Syria's Kurdish parties on Saturday adopted a joint political vision calling for a "decentralised democratic" state in Syria with guarantees for Kurdish rights.
Their statement came at the end of a conference held in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, where a top Kurdish official disputed suggestions that the meeting sought division following the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
Syria's new Islamist-led rulers seek to establish government control over the entire country since they ousted Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war.
A massive explosion tore through Iran's largest commercial port on Saturday, triggering a major blaze, with 14 people killed and 750 injured so far.
The blast occurred at Shahid Rajaee Port in southern Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of world oil output passes.
Although the cause of the blast was not immediately clear, the port's customs office said in a statement carried by state TV that it probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot.
Hamas is open to an agreement to end the war in Gaza that would see all hostages released and secure a five-year truce, an official said Saturday as the group's negotiators held talks with mediators.
A Hamas delegation visited Cairo to discuss with Egyptian mediators ways out of the 18-month war while, on the ground, rescuers said Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 35 people.
Nearly eight weeks into an Israeli aid blockade, the United Nations says food and medical supplies are running out in the territory.
The United States and Iran reported progress in their latest round of nuclear talks on Saturday and agreed to meet again next week as they pursue a deal that could help ease soaring Middle East tensions.
A US official called the talks "positive and productive", and Iran's top diplomat said the two sides will study how to narrow their differences on a range of subjects before next week's fourth round.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi prepared for fresh nuclear talks with the United States in Oman on Friday after apparent progress in previous rounds.
Araghchi flew into Muscat ahead of Saturday's meeting with US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, their third encounter in as many weeks.
Araghchi will lead Iran's delegation of diplomats and technical experts in indirect discussions with the US side, foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.
Syria's foreign minister on Friday raised his country's new flag at UN headquarters in New York, hailing the move as a "proclamation of a new existence" after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
Asaad al-Shaibani raised the three-starred flag, officially adopted after Assad's December ouster, and later spoke to the Security Council, where he urged a lifting of international sanctions and for Israel to be pressured to leave Syrian territory.
"This flag is not a mere symbol, but rather a proclamation of a new existence," he said in his first United Nations speech.
The UN's World Food Programme said Friday it had depleted its food stocks in war-ravaged Gaza, where Israel has blocked all aid for more than seven weeks.
After 18 months of war, the situation in Gaza "is probably the worst" it has been, the UN's humanitarian office has said, with the head of the world body's Palestinian refugee agency decrying the aid stoppage on Friday as "politically motivated starvation".
Farmer Hadi Saheb cannot wait to see his wheat fields flourish in the heart of the desert after he tapped into groundwater reserves in water-starved Iraq.
He is just one of many Iraqis who have turned to drilling wells in the desert to help sustain the country's agriculture.
It is a risky move that threatens to deplete the groundwater in a nation already battered by frequent drought and scarce rainfall.
