Mena Today

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is planning a trip to the Middle East next week and is expected to visit Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain, Axios reported on Friday, citing two sources.

President Donald Trump on Friday got a look at his upgraded Boeing 747, a plane gifted by Qatar, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as the aircraft neared delivery to join the Air Force One fleet.

U.S. President Donald Trump's personal envoy and Iran's foreign minister were headed to Switzerland for talks, Axios said, although deadly strikes by Israel in Lebanon on Saturday could test a new ceasefire key to ending the Iran war.

Emerging outlines of a deal between Washington and Tehran to end their war contain a stinging paradox: sweeteners to coax Iran into compliance may strengthen an adversarial force that the U.S. and its Western allies consider a terrorist organisation.

International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, has been suspended by Britain's independent regulator for court lawyers.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are due to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the fragile US-Iran peace framework, as Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed 47 people and wounded nearly 100, dealing a severe blow to the ceasefire the agreement was supposed to deliver.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance is poised to take on his biggest role yet on the international stage as President Donald Trump's chief negotiator to end the three-month war with Iran, a moment that could shape Vance’s prospects as a White House successor.

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday after an escalation in fighting there jeopardised the chances of an interim agreement on ending the war in Iran turning into a lasting Middle East peace deal.

The ink on the US-Iran memorandum of understanding was barely dry before Tehran's chief negotiator was already drawing lines in the sand.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance lashed out at Israeli critics of the Iran deal on Thursday, saying President Donald Trump is Israel's only ally, in a sharp rebuke that referenced the billions in U.S. defense aid the country receives.

France wants to play a role in talks dealing with Iran's nuclear programme and will not approve the lifting of UN sanctions unless it is satisfied by the terms of a final accord, its foreign minister said on Friday.

Switzerland said U.S. talks with Iranian negotiators on a pact to end the Middle East conflict would not take place on Friday, while Vice President JD Vance dropped plans to travel there, fuelling uncertainty whether a lasting truce can be found.