Britain's Catherine Ashton will continue to play a key coordinating role in negotiations over Iran's disputed nuclear program despite stepping down as the European Union's foreign policy chief.
U.S. air support and pledges of weapons and training for Iraq's army have raised expectations of a counter-offensive soon against Islamic State, but sectarian rifts will hamper efforts to forge a military strategy and may delay a full-scale assault.
A seven-month extension in talks between world powers and Iran on a deal to curb its nuclear program emboldened critics in Washington and Tehran, threatening to undermine further talks.
Turkey and the United States smoothed over some differences in the fight against Islamic State during a weekend visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, but the talks heralded little in the way of deeper military cooperation between the NATO allies.
Iran and six powers failed on Monday for a second time this year to resolve their 12-year stand-off over Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and gave themselves seven more months to clinch an historic deal.
Iranian officials say they can turn to Beijing and Moscow if talks in Vienna fail to end Western sanctions, but with oil prices falling, China's economy slowing and Russia in its own sanctions-induced slump, Tehran's "plan B" hardly looks ideal.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are discussing new ideas aimed at breaking the deadlock in nuclear talks between Tehran and six world powers, sources close to the talks said on Friday.
A deadline for resolving a 12-year-old dispute over Iran's nuclear program may be extended from Monday until March because of sharp disagreements between Tehran and world powers, officials close to the talks said on Thursday.
Iran said it would resist Western pressure to make what it considered to be excessive concessions in nuclear talks that started on Tuesday, highlighting obstacles that could prevent a historic deal being reached by a Nov. 24 deadline.
China's domestic security chief has visited Iran to push for greater cooperation in the fight against terror, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Tuesday, as Beijing seeks allies in its efforts to maintain stability in Xinjiang.
A senior Russian diplomat expressed optimism on Wednesday that a deal could be reached this month between world powers and Tehran on curbing Iran's nuclear program despite "deep gaps" on some issues.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to a conference of Jewish leaders in Washington, on Tuesday sternly warned against a possible international deal with Iran that would end sanctions but fail to stop it from getting nuclear weapons.
A few brief encounters between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin during an Asia-Pacific summit in China on Tuesday spoke volumes about the chilly state of relations between the United States and Russia.
Iran has stopped a controversial practice that could allow it to enrich uranium faster, the United States said on Monday, ceasing an activity one expert saw as violating an interim nuclear deal.
Iran, the United States and the European Union began an unscheduled second day of talks on Monday over disagreements blocking the resolution of a confrontation over Tehran's nuclear programme, U.S. and Iranian officials said.
Iran sees no alternative to a diplomatic settlement with six world powers on its nuclear program and believes both sides are resolved to reach a deal by a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline, its deputy foreign minister said on Saturday.
New York's banking regulator has demanded $300 million from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as part of a potential agreement over sanctions-related violations, according to people familiar with the matter.
An Iranian-British woman who took part in a demonstration in Tehran against a ban on women attending some men's sporting events was jailed for a year for spreading anti-state propaganda, Iranian media said.
U.S. authorities are investigating London-based Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) for potential U.S. sanctions violations connected to its banking for Iranian-controlled entities in Dubai, according to people familiar with the probe.
Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Iran's foreign minister and the European Union foreign policy chief in Oman on Nov. 9-10 to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue ahead of a looming deadline for a final agreement, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.
When Sunni rebels rose up against Syria's Bashar al-Assad in 2011, Turkey reclassified its protégé as a pariah, expecting him to lose power within months and join the autocrats of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen on the scrap heap of the "Arab Spring".
