Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday said US sanctions will have no impact on the policies of the Islamic republic at home or abroad.

Australia’s conservative prime minister on Sunday stood by his decision to recognise west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite criticism from neighbouring Muslim countries.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at Israel and compared it to Nazi Germany, accusing the Jewish state of “trying to erase the traces of the Islamic heritage in Jerusalem for the last 50 years.”

Australia is ready to follow U.S. President Donald Trump and recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s official capital,  with Prime Minister Scott Morrison expected to announce the historic move Saturday.

JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel would be prepared to strike within Iran’s borders if it meant ensuring the Jewish state’s survival. 

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Tuesday Iraq should partner with American companies to become energy independent, as Baghdad’s waiver from US sanctions on Iran nears its expiry.

TEL AVIV – Australia is reportedly set to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Wednesday, but is likely to postpone moving its embassy there from Tel Aviv due to the high cost of doing so.

Iran confirmed on Tuesday that it had carried out a recent test of a medium-range ballistic missile after Western powers sharply criticised a December 1 launch.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the international community to impose sanctions on Iran after its president Hassan Rouhani called Israel a “cancerous tumor” established by Western countries to advance their own interests in the region. 

Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU), who maintains extensive ties with countries in the Persian Gulf, said he has recently seen a vast improvement in relations between Israel and the Gulf states.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a deal to Israel and the US that would see Iran remove its forces from Syria in exchange for an easing of Washington’s sanctions against Tehran, according to an Israeli report Tuesday.

Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Sinwar on Friday warned Israel “not to test us again,” saying the next rocket barrage from the territory would target Tel Aviv and other central cities with a potency that would “surprise” Israel.

The official overseeing the European Union’s future enlargement says that, in the long term, it would be “more honest” for the bloc to give up talks on membership for Turkey.

TEL AVIV – Russia on Monday accused Israel of putting its military in danger by violating a tacit agreement to give advanced warning before conducting airstrikes in Syria, prompting Moscow to respond in a “firm but contained manner.”

Iran’s top leader said on Saturday that US President Donald Trump’s policies face opposition across the world as Washington prepared to reimpose sanctions on Iran’s vital oil-exporting and financial sectors, state television reported.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has reportedly urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to accept a “graded reconciliation” with Hamas as part of a deal that would see the 82-year old take control of the Gaza Strip.

Iran started production of its domestically produced fighter jet on Saturday, two days befor the reimposition of remaining U.S. sanctions designed to isolate the Islamic Republic.

Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro confirmed on Twitter Thursday that he intends to move his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM – Brazil’s president-elect Jair Bolsonaro has told an Israeli newspaper he intends to defy the Palestinians and most of the world by moving his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

A top Palestinian body on Monday passed a motion urging Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to suspend all agreements with Israel and revoke recognition of the Jewish state until Israel formally recognizes a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines.

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded Australia’s prime minister for saying that he may follow in the U.S.’s footsteps and move his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, while the Palestinians lambasted it as a “fatal mistake.” 

RIYADH – US top diplomat Mike Pompeo was in Saudi Arabia for urgent talks with King Salman Tuesday seeking answers about the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, amid US media reports the kingdom may be mulling an admission he died during a botched interrogation.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is “reviewing legislation” that would create an investment fund for the Palestinian economy, a White House official told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

Australia is “open” to the idea of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and emulating the U.S. by moving its embassy there, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.

TEL AVIV – The U.S. is looking to oust the current Iranian regime and is the most hostile administration in the four decades since the founding of the Islamic Republic, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.

DAMASCUS, Syria — Jordan and Syria agreed Sunday to reopen a vital border crossing between the two countries, three years after the commercial lifeline fell to rebel groups and traffic was halted.

TEL AVIV – Russia supplied Syria with three S-300 anti-aircraft battalion sets with eight launchers and more than 100 surface-to-air guided missiles each free of charge, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told the foreign ministers of Greece and Cyprus last month that he is deeply pessimistic about Turkey’s future as a democracy under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said he believes its economy is destined for further decline.

The Russian deployment of advanced anti-aircraft missiles in Syria is a “needless escalation,” the general overseeing America’s military involvement in the Middle East said Thursday.

Iran will “slap” the United States by defeating new sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic, the country’s supreme leader warned Thursday.