Mena Today

U.S. and Iranian negotiators held their highest-level talks in half a century in Pakistan on Saturday to try to end their six-week war as President Donald Trump said his military was clearing the Strait of Hormuz.

Syria's Interior Ministry announced Saturday that its counter-terrorism directorate, in cooperation with the internal security command around Damascus, had thwarted a bomb plot targeting a religious figure near a Maronite church in the Bab Touma district of the capital, and has linked the cell to Hezbollah.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economy maintained solid momentum in the third quarter of 2025, with nominal GDP reaching approximately US$595 billion, representing annual growth of 2.2 percent compared to the same period in 2024, according to data from GCC-Stat.

Iraq's parliament has elected Kurdish politician Nizar Amedi as the country's new president on Saturday, marking a significant moment in the nation's political transition following parliamentary elections held in November.

As direct Israeli-Lebanese negotiations are set to open in Washington on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron spent the weekend posting on X and making phone calls, to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging a ceasefire, freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and a "robust and lasting diplomatic solution" for the region.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that the United States military has started to clear the Strait of Hormuz nL1N40T08R, and that all of Iran's minelaying ships have been sunk.

Iranian state television has revealed that Tehran's delegation has presented Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with a set of firm red lines, as diplomatic efforts to resolve the escalating regional crisis gather pace. The demands, if confirmed, appear to leave little room for compromise with Washington.

Pakistan has sent fighter jets and other military forces to Saudi Arabia to boost security under a defence pact between the two countries, the Saudi defence ministry said on Saturday, as Islamabad hosted talks aimed at ending the Iran war.

Djibouti's President Ismael Omar Guelleh nL8N3W50Q9 has won re-election with 97.8% of the vote, state-owned Radio Television Djibouti said on Saturday, handing him a sixth term that extends his 27-year rule over the small but strategically located East African country. 

Britain's armed services minister Al Carns has praised Ukraine's drone technology as among the best in the world, suggesting Kyiv could play a meaningful role in international efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid an ongoing Iranian blockade.

A senior Iranian source said on Saturday the U.S. had agreed to release Iranian frozen assets held in Qatar and other foreign banks, welcoming the move as a sign of "seriousness" in reaching a deal with Washington in talks in Islamabad.

U.S. intelligence indicates China is  preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within the next few weeks, CNN reported late on Friday, citing three people familiar with recent intelligence assessments.