The opening match is scheduled to be held at the 60,000-capacity Al Bayt stadium, one of seven new venues purpose-built for the tournament since Qatar was awarded the World Cup in 2010.

An Iranian satellite launched by Russia blasted off from Kazakhstan early Tuesday and went into orbit amid controversy that Moscow might use it to improve its surveillance of military targets in Ukraine. A live feed from Russian space agency Roscosmos showed the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the Khayyam...

Iran said Monday it is examining a "final text" presented by the European Union at the negotiations in Vienna aimed at restoring a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. The comments came after a European official said the EU has tabled the "final" version of the text, negotiations...

Sadr, a longtime political and religious force in the oil-rich but war-scarred country, has for months been in a political standoff with a rival Shiite alliance backed by Iran. Worshippers converged on a vast square inside the normally secure Green Zone, home to government and diplomatic buildings, including the parliament...

Negotiations in Vienna began in April 2021 to restore the deal, but have stalled for the past five months amid differences between Tehran and Washington on several issues. The two sides have negotiated indirectly through the European Union coordinator in a bid to bring the US back into the deal...

News of the launch follows Putin's visit to Iran on July 19, when he met President Ebrahim Raisi and Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Negotiations between Iran and world powers, which began in late November 2021 to reintegrate Joe Biden's United States into the agreement, have been stalled since March.

Iranian lawmakers voted Wednesday to ratify a prisoner exchange treaty with Belgium, where the deal has been criticized for potentially enabling an Iranian diplomat jailed on terrorism charges to return home.

The sanctions block any assets the entities own under US jurisdiction and ban US persons or entities from doing business with them, effectively constricting their access to the global financial system.

The USA has alleged Ebrahim Raisi was involved in mass execution of detained leftists in 1988 while he was chief prosecutor of the Tehran revolutionary court. However, Raisi has denied the allegations on two occasions -- in 2018 and 2020.

Having pledged to help especially the poor, the ultraconservative cleric now faces runaway consumer prices that have sparked protests.

Iran said Monday it remains "optimistic" about a possible revival of the 2015 nuclear deal after the European Union tabled a proposal aiming for a compromise in the talks stalled since March.

Iran said Monday it remains "optimistic" about a possible revival of the 2015 nuclear deal after the European Union tabled a proposal aiming for a compromise in the talks stalled since March. "We remain optimistic that the negotiation process will lead us to a logical and reasonable outcome," foreign ministry...

At least 80 people have been killed and 30 others are missing in floods that have wreaked havoc across Iran for more than a week, state media reported Saturday. Tehran province is the hardest-hit with 35 deaths, and the nearby Mazandaran province having the highest number of missing people at...

Iran said it had arrested a Swedish national on allegations of espionage, while Sweden's foreign ministry said the case related to an arrest previously revealed in May.

The storming of Iraq's parliament by hundreds of supporters of populist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr has piled pressure on his political opponents working to form a government nearly 10 months after an election.

Iran said Monday it will not be rushed into a "quick" deal reviving its faltering 2015 nuclear accord with world powers, as negotiations remain deadlocked. "They demand that Iran makes a quick decision, (insisting that) time is limited and Iran must respond quickly," foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said at...

King Abdullah II protested in an interview against attacks on Jordan's borders by "militias linked to Iran", following deadly clashes with drug smugglers on the frontier with Syria. Abdullah called for "a change of behavior by Iran" and said that Jordan "does not want tensions in the region".

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday told his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi that reviving the landmark 2015 deal on Tehran's nuclear capabilities was "still possible" but must happen "as soon as possible".

Iran's intelligence ministry announced Saturday the arrest of agents linked to Israel's Mossad who entered the Islamic republic to carry out attacks against "sensitive" sites, state news agency IRNA reported. The statement did not say how many suspects were arrested or give their nationalities, nor did it identify the targets...

It will be a public meeting, (unlike) previous encounters that were held privately at a low level between intelligence and security officials, said Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein.

A global summit in Albania dedicated to advocating regime change in Iran has been postponed due to security threats, an exiled Iranian opposition group said Friday.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbor.

The war in Ukraine has caused food insecurity in Arab nations, many of which are heavily dependent on wheat imports from the former Soviet state. His address comes days after Russia took part in a summit hosted by Iran and attended by Turkey.

The remarks came amid heightened tensions between Iran and Western powers as talks in Vienna to revive a 2015 nuclear deal have been stalled since March.

Award-winning dissident Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi, arrested last week in Tehran, must serve a six-year sentence previously handed to him in 2010, the judicial authority announced Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday said that the West must remove restrictions on exports of Russian grain. "We will facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain, but we are proceeding from the fact that all restrictions related to air deliveries for the export of Russian grain will be lifted," Putin...

The US president could not dispel the view that the Washington is no longer a reliable ally and he also failed to connect at a personal level with the young GCC leaders, say experts.

With the war in Ukraine still raging, Russian President Vladimir Putin travels Tuesday to Tehran for talks with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts on the Syria conflict. Russia, Turkey and Iran have in recent years met to discuss Syria as part of the so-called "Astana peace process" to end more...

Iran has the technical capacity to build a nuclear weapon but has not taken a decision to do so, an official told the Al Jazeera broadcaster on Sunday. The comments come after US President Joe Biden visited the Middle East and signed a security pact with Israel vowing to prevent...

On issues ranging from energy prices to human rights and Israel's role in the region, Biden could point only to small -- if any -- gains after four whirlwind days of meetings and speeches. There was no progress on the moribund Palestine peace negotiations.

In a joint statement following the summit -- attended the GCC member states, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and the US -- the leaders also vowed to enhance regional cooperation and integration, and build joint projects to achieve sustainable development and collectively address the climate challenges.

The commander of US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria on Friday urged Russia and Iran to prevent Turkey from launching a new attack in the country's north, days before an expected Syria summit.

France has expressed deep concern at the "arbitrary" arrests of three Iranian filmmakers, including international prize-winners Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof. Panahi and Rasoulof were "arbitrarily arrested" earlier this month along with Mostafa Aleahmad, the French foreign ministry said.

The US will use "all elements of its national power" to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, President Joe Biden pledged in a security declaration signed with Israel on Thursday. In the document inked by Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Jerusalem, the two countries "reaffirm the unbreakable...

Air Force One will make a first direct flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia amid efforts to build ties between the Jewish state and the Gulf kingdom, which does not recognize Israel's existence. The trip is seen as part of efforts to stabilise oil markets by re-engaging with major energy...

Moments after US President Joe Biden touches down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the Israeli military will show him new hardware it says is essential to confronting Iran: anti-drone lasers. While Israel has long been known for its efforts to thwart Tehran's nuclear ambitions, Israeli officials have increasingly been sounding...

US President Joe Biden lands in the Middle East on Wednesday for a trip that will see Israeli leaders urge tougher action against Iran, before a delicate stop in Saudi Arabia. The 79-year-old president's visit to Jeddah on Friday will be the focus of the tour.

Tehran hit out Tuesday at what it called Washington's "contradictory" policies, after President Joe Biden vowed to pile pressure on Iran ahead of a visit to US allies in the Middle East. Biden has been seeking to restore the Iran nuclear deal that was abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump.

Award-winning dissident Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi was arrested Monday, the third director to be detained in less than a week, the Mehr news agency said.

Iran is planning to supply hundreds of drones with combat weapon capabilities to Russia for use in Ukraine, a top US official said Monday. Jake Sullivan, the White House national security advisor, said the information received by the United States supported views that the Russian military is facing challenges sustaining...

The UN watchdog's director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi said the changes at the plant under mountains south of the Iranian capital had been verified.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards arrested several foreign diplomats including a Briton, accusing them of "spying", the Fars news agency and state television said Wednesday.

Belgium's parliament on Wednesday approved a controversial prisoner-swap treaty with Iran in the first reading of a text that still has to be submitted to a full vote to be ratified.

In April, Tehran's Air Quality Control Society said dust clouds originated from "countries to the west of Iran".

Iran and Turkey share a land border, while Russia shares a maritime border with Iran and Turkey across the Black Sea and Caspian Sea respectively.

At least five people were killed and 19 injured when a strong earthquake shook southern Iran early Saturday, the state news agency IRNA reported.

The US, meanwhile, says it is "disappointed" that there is "no progress made" after two days of indirect talks with Iran brokered by an EU envoy in Doha. President Joe Biden's administration has "made clear our readiness to quickly conclude and implement a deal on mutual return to full compliance".

The talks aim to bring the United States back into a 2015 deal jettisoned by the Donald Trump administration in 2018.

The coalition government came apart last week after some Arab lawmakers refused to renew a measure that ensures the roughly 475,000 Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank live under Israeli law.