Mena Today

Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Friday that the Israeli military will expand and intensify its strikes against Iran in direct response to Tehran's continued missile bombardment of Israeli civilians.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will receive Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the Chancellery in Berlin on Monday, a German government spokesman announced Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would again extend a deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the destruction of its energy plants, after Tehran earlier rejected a 15-point U.S. proposal to end the fighting.

 The United Arab Emirates has told the U.S. and other Western allies it would participate in a multinational maritime taskforce to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that he had arrived in Saudi Arabia and would hold "important meetings", part of an effort to bolster ties with Middle East countries amid the Iran war.

Iran has made an extraordinary offer,  and it went straight to Madrid. The Iranian embassy in Spain announced Thursday that Tehran would be "receptive to any request from Madrid" regarding the Strait of Hormuz, citing Spain's respect for international law. 

Pakistan's military resumed operations against Afghanistan after a temporary pause, Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Thursday, dashing hopes of a permanent ceasefire.

Israel has had friends in the White House before. Harry Truman recognized the Jewish state at its birth. Richard Nixon understood during the Yom Kippur War that delay could be fatal. Those were consequential acts, and history rightly honors them.

Lebanese hotels are no longer safe hiding spots for members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the country's hoteliers are making sure of it.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, whose attacks on the Red Sea caused international shipping and trade chaos during the Gaza war, stands ready to strike the key waterway again in solidarity with Tehran, one Houthi leader told Reuters, a move that would deepen a global oil and economic crisis brought on by the Middle East war.

UAE air defences intercepted 15 ballistic missiles and 11 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) launched from Iran on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence announced.

A U.S. proposal for ending nearly four weeks of fighting is "one-sided and unfair", a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday, while also stressing that diplomacy had not ended despite the lack for now of a realistic plan for peace talks.