Mena Today

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign a presidential memorandum on Tuesday to restore his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran to stop the country getting a nuclear weapon and drive down its oil exports to zero, a U.S. official said.

Syrian transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa was discussing economic ties on a visit to Turkey on Tuesday, as Turkish transport and manufacturing firms eye big expansion plans for Syria in what some expect will be a tripling of trade.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan held consultations in Ankara on Tuesday, focusing on bilateral relations and key regional developments.

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said his government aims to restore ties with the United States in the coming days but has not yet had any contact with the Trump administration, according to an interview with The Economist.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a revival of the Soviet answer to the Eurovision Song Contest in an effort to counter what he says is the decadence of modern Western culture.

Precision airstrikes led by Iraqi security forces (ISF) killed five Islamic State (ISIS) operatives near Iraq's Kirkuk on Jan. 31, the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said in an X post on Tuesday.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, received German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday for high-level discussions aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and addressing key regional and global issues.

Syria's transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan are expected to discuss a joint defense pact in Ankara on Tuesday, including establishing Turkish airbases in central Syria and training for Syria's new army, four sources familiar with the matter said.

At least five prisoners who supported Islamic State were killed after attacking guards with knives and trying to break out of a jail in Tajikistan, a law enforcement source said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United Nations has "great potential" but has to "get their act together," as he stopped U.S. engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and ordered a review of the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO.

Israel is preparing to send a high-level delegation to the Qatari capital Doha to discuss continued implementation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Tuesday.

Air France became the first international airline to resume flights to Israel, with services between Tel Aviv and Paris restarting on January 25.