The largest ship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, semiofficial news agencies reported.

Iran has failed to explain traces of uranium found at several undeclared sites, a report by the UN nuclear watchdog showed on Monday, possibly setting up a fresh diplomatic clash between Tehran and the West that could derail wider nuclear talks.

A former ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he would seek to form a coalition government with the Israeli leader’s opponents, taking a major step toward ending the rule of the longtime premier.

Iranian prosecutors have confirmed a French man detained in the Islamic republic will be tried for espionage and “propaganda against the system”, his lawyer told AFP yesterday.

The majority of Hefajat-e-Islam’s funds came from the Middle East through Bangladeshi expatriates, said police.

Israel was gripped by political drama on Sunday over the possibly imminent end of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's record run as the country's leader.

Israeli forces on Friday shot dead a Palestinian man during clashes in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Where is Sheikh Jaber? Kuwait was abuzz with the question as citizens on social media demanded to know the whereabouts of their 79-year-old former prime minister. He’d been ordered detained pending trial in an unprecedented move last month over the alleged embezzlement of millions of dollars from a military aid fund.

Bangladeshi migrant workers in crisis-hit Lebanon are going to get free Covid-19 vaccines on Saturday under a national campaign launched by the Middle East country.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has agreed to launch an international investigation into alleged crimes committed during the 11-day conflict between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.

The UN high commissioner for human rights yesterday said that Israel’s deadly strikes on Gaza might constitute war crimes and that Islamist group Hamas had violated international humanitarian law by firing rockets into Israel.

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen today said an independent international commission must be formed to take legal action against the Israeli authorities for crime and atrocities on the Palestinian people.

One person died and several were injured on Tuesday when Iraqi security forces fired live rounds in the air to disperse anti-government protests in central Baghdad, according to security and medical sources.

With the Saudi-bound Bangladeshi workers enduring immense sufferings following a travel advisory by the kingdom, officials at the expatriates’ welfare ministry yesterday said the ministry decided in principle to provide cash support to the migrant workers under financial strain.

Russia said on Tuesday it had the ability for the first time to operate long-range strategic nuclear-capable bombers from its air base in Syria, expanding its capabilities and allowing such planes to train in new regions.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a Middle East visit in Israel on Tuesday, hoping to bolster its ceasefire with Gaza's ruling Hamas militants and help speed humanitarian aid to the devastated Palestinian enclave.

Turkish intelligence officers have arrested an Egyptian-born terror suspect wanted by Washington who was a top explosives expert for the Islamic State group, state media reported yesterday.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip held yesterday as Egyptian mediators pressed on with talks with the two sides on securing longer-term calm, officials said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday and Thursday as part of Washington's efforts to build on the Gaza truce, a source briefed on the planning said on Saturday.

An Egyptian-mediated truce between Israel and Hamas began on Friday and US President Joe Biden pledged to salve the devastated Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid after the worst fighting in years.