Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it intends to produce uranium enriched to up to 20 percent purity, well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 Vienna accord, the UN nuclear watchdog said Friday.

Iran has told the United Nations nuclear watchdog it plans to enrich uranium to up to 20% purity, a level it achieved before its 2015 accord, at its Fordow site buried inside a mountain, the agency said.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday detained two men for their alleged involvement with banned militant outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh.

Iran’s judiciary chief yesterday warned that Qasem Soleimani’s killers will “not be safe on Earth”, as the Islamic republic began marking the first anniversary of the top general’s assassination in a US strike.

The US killing of top general Qassem Soleimani will not deter Iranian resistance, a senior commander said today as tensions mounted in the build-up to the first anniversary of the drone strike.

At least five people have been killed and dozens more wounded in an attack on Aden airport, shortly after a plane carrying a newly formed government for Yemen arrived from Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi court sentenced prominent women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul to five years and eight months in prison in a trial that has drawn international condemnation as Riyadh faces renewed US scrutiny.

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has received his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, as part of a national Covid-19 vaccination plan being implemented by the ministry of health, according to state news agency SPA.

Israel is working towards formalising relations with a fifth Muslim country, possibly in Asia, during US President Donald Trump’s term, an Israeli cabinet minister has said.

Saudi Arabia’s Islamic affairs minister confirmed that many imams were fired in recent weeks after failing to follow the directive of warning citizens against the group called Muslim Brotherhood and its ideology.

Iran has begun construction on a site at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo amid tensions with the US over its atomic program, satellite photos obtained Friday by The Associated Press show.

Iran has summoned the ambassador of Germany, current holder of the European Union’s rotating presidency, over EU criticism of the execution of an Iranian journalist, Iranian media reported.

Israel and Morocco have agreed to normalise relations in a deal brokered with US help, making Morocco the fourth Arab country to set aside hostilities with Israel in the past four months.

Lebanon’s investigating judge charged caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers with negligence over the Beirut port blast that killed 200 people and ravaged the capital in August, a judicial source and an official source have said.

The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was carried out remotely with artificial intelligence and a machine gun equipped with a “satellite-controlled smart system”, Tasnim news agency has quoted a senior commander as saying.

Kuwaitis voted in legislative polls today with the Gulf state mired in its worst economic crisis in decades, which poses a challenge for the government’s often stormy relationship with a parliament blamed for blocking reforms.

Bahrain’s imports from Israel will not be subject to distinctions between products made within Israel and those from settlements in occupied territory, the Bahraini trade minister has said, drawing a rebuke from the Palestinians.

Iran’s Guardian Council watchdog body approved a law on Wednesday that obliges the government to halt UN inspections of its nuclear sites and step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal if sanctions are not eased in two months.

Five Bangladeshi sailors, who were being held by Houthi rebels in Yemen capital Sana’a since February this year, will return home through India soon.

Dhaka has urged Doha to take urgent measures so that the stranded Bangladeshi expatriates can return to work in Qatar.