Mena Today

The Strait of Hormuz remained shut on Friday and Israel traded fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which the United States and Iran each described as violations of their ceasefire deal on the eve of their first peace talks of the war.

Attacks on Saudi energy facilities have cut the kingdom's oil production capacity by around 600,000 barrels per day and throughput on its East-West Pipeline by about 700,000 bpd, Saudi state news agency SPA reported on Thursday, citing an official source at the Ministry of Energy.

Ukraine is in talks with Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain to cooperate in the security sector and share its drone defence expertise and technology, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said on Thursday that the group rejected direct negotiations with Israel and that the Lebanese government should demand a ceasefire as a precondition before any further steps are taken.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel told NBC News that the country has asked U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to engage in dialogue without demanding changes from Cuba's political system or imposing other conditions, the network said on Thursday.

Direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon will begin next week, a senior Israeli official has confirmed, a landmark development that marks the first formal talks between the two countries in decades.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he has given an instruction for Israel to begin peace talks with Lebanon that would also include the disarming of Hezbollah.

Lebanon's cabinet took a landmark step Thursday, formally tasking the army and security forces with establishing a monopoly on weapons in Beirut, with the explicit goal of declaring the capital a "Hezbollah-free weapons zone."

Let us dispense with diplomatic courtesy. The demand by France, Spain and their European partners to include Lebanon in the US-Iran negotiations is not statesmanship. 

The U.S. and Iran are set to hold peace talks in Pakistan, which has been mediating, but remain deeply divided on key issues, even though President Donald Trump has said proposals presented by Tehran were a "basis" for talks.

An Iranian delegation will arrive in Pakistani capital Islamabad on Thursday night for talks to resolve conflict with the U.S. and Israel, Iran's ambassador to Pakistan said on Thursday.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday it would be unacceptable for ships to have to pay a fee to cross the Strait of Hormuz as Iran has suggested, and such a move would set a dangerous precedent for freedom of navigation.