Mena Today

Iran agreed a secret 500 million euro ($589 million) arms deal with Russia to acquire thousands of advanced shoulder-fired missiles, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel is working to build a new network of regional alliances to counter what he described as both the “weakened Iranian Shiite axis” and an “emerging radical Sunni axis,” according to Israeli media reports.

Escalating tensions in the Middle East are emerging as a major force in global financial markets, and UBS believes the situation could drive gold prices significantly higher. 

Comments by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee suggesting that Israel had a biblical right to much of the Middle East drew condemnation over the weekend from countries across the region, who called his remarks "dangerous and inflammatory".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will pay an official visit to Israel on Wednesday.

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Sunday that he would summon the U.S. ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, over comments on the killing of a French far-right activist last week. 

For more than four decades, the United States has struggled to develop a coherent strategy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

Iran and the United States have differing views over the scope and mechanism to lift sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday, adding that new talks were planned in early March.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran are escalating sharply as President Donald Trump openly questions why Iran has not “capitulated” under mounting U.S. military pressure aimed at forcing a new nuclear agreement.

At least five bodies of migrants including two women have been washed ashore in َQasr al-Akhyar, a coastal town in the east of Libya's capital Tripoli, a police officer told Reuters on Saturday.

Students held protests at several Iranian universities at the start of a new semester on Saturday, some clashing with pro-government groups, according to local news agencies and posts on social media.

Ukraine hit a Russian plant manufacturing ballistic missiles in a missile strike in the remote Udmurtia region, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Saturday.