Iraq is planning to send urgent delegations to the United States and Iran, its prime minister said yesterday, as Baghdad seeks to rein in soaring tensions between its top allies.

Iran urged the United States yesterday to address the Islamic Republic with respect, not threats of war, a day after US President Donald Trump stoked concerns about a potential US-Iran conflict.

The Palestinian leadership has not been consulted about a US-led conference in Bahrain next month in support of Washington's Middle East peace plan, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said.

Iran’s top diplomat dismissed the possibility of war erupting in the region at a time of escalating confrontation with the United States, saying Tehran did not want conflict and no country had the “illusion it can confront Iran”.

Air strikes stopped in northwest Syria over the past 12 hours, rescuers said on Saturday, as Turkey-backed rebels arrived at the fronts to help fight the army and its Russian ally.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif yesterday urged China and Russia to take “concrete actions” to safeguard the 2015 nuclear deal as he warned of a “dangerous” situation amid escalating tensions with the US.

Palestinians protested yesterday for the annual commemoration of what they call the Nakba, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were expelled or fled during the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo yesterday said his country is not seeking war with Iran, despite a spike in tensions that has seen the Pentagon dispatch nuclear-capable bombers to the region.

A veteran Palestinian negotiator said yesterday she had been denied a US travel visa for the first time, and viewed it as retaliation for her criticism of the Trump administration and Israel.

Clashes on the edge of a militant bastion in northwestern Syria have killed 35 fighters in 24 hours, a monitor said Monday, after regime bombardment on the region devastated health services.

The United Nations said yesterday that a Yemeni rebel withdrawal from key Red Sea ports was proceeding as planned, after the government accused insurgents of faking the pullout.

Four commercial vessels were targeted by "sabotage operations" near the territorial waters of the United Arab Emirates without causing casualties, the foreign ministry said on Sunday in a statement ...