While the desperate flight of Syrians from their country's war was dominating news bulletins this summer, yet another diplomatic push to end the four-year-old conflict was quietly running into the sand.
Saudi King Salman will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Friday to seek more support in countering Iran, as the Obama administration aims to use the visit to shore up relations after a period of tensions.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday secured the 34th Senate vote needed to sustain a veto of any congressional resolution disapproving a nuclear deal with Iran, ensuring the accord will not fail in the U.S. Congress.
Supporters of the international nuclear agreement with Iran moved within one vote of mustering enough support to protect the deal in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday when two more Democratic senators said they would support the pact.
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, said on Sunday he would support the nuclear deal with Iran, moving President Barack Obama a step closer to having sufficient backing to ensure the deal stands.
Britain reopened its embassy in Tehran on Sunday, a striking signal of how Western ties with Iran have thawed since protesters ransacked the ambassador's residence and burned the Union Jack nearly four years ago.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief on Thursday rejected as "a misrepresentation" suggestions Iran would inspect its own Parchin military site on the agency's behalf, an issue that could help make or break Tehran's nuclear deal with big powers.
Iraq's former prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, on Tuesday denounced as worthless a parliamentary report which blamed him and others for the fall of Mosul to Islamic State last year and called for them to be referred to the judiciary.
Iran will remain closed to U.S. influence and continue to oppose U.S. policies in the Middle East after its nuclear deal with big powers, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday, noting either country can still block the accord.
On the day U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a historic nuclear agreement last month, Hadi Partovi threw an impromptu party in his backyard outside Seattle, setting in motion a rare expression of solidarity among the country's most prominent Iranian-Americans.
U.S. President Barack Obama's hopes of preserving the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers were dealt a setback on Thursday when Chuck Schumer, one of the top Democrats in the U.S. Senate, said he would the oppose the agreement.
Russia and the United States have not been able to agree on a common approach to fighting Islamic State, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, after his second meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in recent days.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet for a second time in three days on Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has been trying to bring about a rapprochement between Syria and regional states to forge an alliance to fight Islamic State militants.
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives will vote on whether to reject the nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran when lawmakers return to Washington in September, party leaders said on Tuesday, setting up a showdown with the White House.
U.S. backers of the Iran nuclear deal are increasingly confident of enough Democratic support to ensure it survives review by Congress, despite fierce opposition by majority Republicans and a massive lobbying drive.
Saudi Arabian King Salman left the south of France for Morocco on Sunday, cutting short a planned three-week stay after a petition from some 150,000 residents over the closure of a public beach outside his villa.
Bahraini authorities have arrested several people in connection with Tuesday's deadly bombing and suspect the attack was a "foreign attempt" to harm the Gulf state's stability, local media reported on Wednesday.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday said he was yet to hear a strong factual argument against a nuclear deal with Iran and criticized rhetoric about the agreement from some leading members of the Republican party.
Bahrain said on Saturday it had foiled an arms smuggling plot by two Bahrainis with ties to Iran and announced the recall of the Gulf island kingdom's ambassador to Tehran for consultations after what it said were repeated hostile Iranian statements.
Saudi King Salman and a 1,000-entourage arrived on Saturday for holiday on the French Riviera, where over 100,000 residents have petitioned against the closure of the public beach outside his villa.
