Iranian dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi was rearrested in northern Iran on Thursday, less than two weeks after his release from prison, according to his official social media channel.

Two ballistic missiles were fired from Houthi rebel-controlled Yemen toward a US warship in the Gulf of Aden, after the US Navy responded to a distress call from a commercial tanker that had been seized by armed individuals, the US military said Sunday.

US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria came under attack four separate times on Thanksgiving Day, according to a US official.

The US military has taken a number of retaliatory actions after multiple close-range ballistic missiles were launched against US and coalition forces at Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq on Monday evening.

The White House released recently declassified intelligence on Tuesday confirming that the Russian mercenary organization Wagner group has been preparing to provide an air defense capability “to either Hezbollah or Iran,” according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

The US has intelligence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to provide the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah with a Russian-made missile defense system, according to two people familiar with the intelligence.

The US intelligence community believes – for now – that Iran and its proxies are calibrating their response to Israel’s military intervention in Gaza to avoid direct conflict with Israel or the US while still exacting costs on its adversaries.

The tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar is once again front and center in global diplomacy, this time for its efforts to mediate deals to free hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7 attacks in Israel, as well as evacuate foreign nationals from Gaza.

China has welcomed officials from Arab and Muslim majority countries on Monday for talks on “de-escalating” the Israel-Hamas conflict as Beijing steps-up its efforts to play a role in establishing a ceasefire.

A US warship shot down a drone that is believed to have originated from Yemen in the Red Sea on Wednesday, according to two US officials.

A document recovered from a computer found inside a Hamas pickup truck outside Gaza, obtained by CNN from Israeli officials, shows a Hamas military commander requesting a scholarship for Hamas operatives to study engineering, physics and technology at universities in Iran.

When President Joe Biden meets Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday for a rare, high-stakes summit, two major wars – the Ukraine-Russia conflict, now deep into its second year, and the Israel-Hamas war that has entered its second deadly month – will serve as the backdrop amid extraordinary global tumult.

US forces came under attack at least four more times by Iran-backed groups in Syria after the US military carried out air strikes on targets associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps on Sunday, a US official told CNN.

The US carried out another set of strikes against targets affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in eastern Syria, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, following continued attacks on US forces in the region.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has arrived in Saudi Arabia for a summit on the Israel-Hamas war, telling reporters that “Palestine is the most important issue in the Islamic world.”

Iran has reiterated that despite its financial backing and support for Hamas and other proxy groups in the region, it does not direct any of their actions, the Islamic Republic’s United Nations ambassador told CNN in an interview.

US and coalition forces have come under attack at least four more times since the US struck a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria on Wednesday evening, according to a US official.

The imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has ended her hunger strike after three days, according to a statement from her media team on Thursday.

Hunter Biden, the president’s son, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Overstock’s former CEO Patrick Byrne, accusing him of publishing false statements claiming Biden sought a bribe from Iran.

A massive fire at a drug rehabilitation centre in northern Iran has killed at least 32 people and injured 16, Iranian media reported on Friday.

Five Republican presidential candidates participated in a debate Wednesday in Miami to make their case to the American people.

The US military conducted an airstrike on a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday.

An unmanned US military drone was shot down off the coast of Yemen by Houthi forces, a defense official tells CNN.

Narges Mohammadi started a hunger strike on Monday in protest over what she said was the jail’s refusal to provide her with medical treatment, according to a family statement provided to CNN.

American troops were attacked an additional eight times since Friday morning by one-way attack drones and rocket barrages in Iraq and Syria as US forces face ramped up attacks by Iranian-backed groups.

After suspected Iranian hackers claimed a string of hacks on Israeli security cameras in the last two weeks, Israel’s cyber defense chief tells CNN he is “very concerned” that Iran could escalate its long-running covert battle with Israel in cyberspace with more serious and disruptive cyberattacks on Israeli infrastructure as the war between Israel and Hamas shows no sign of ending.

Iran supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other opponents of Israel but hasn’t shown visible signs that it wants to see the Israel-Hamas war expand into a regional confrontation that could draw in the United States, writes Peter Bergen.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq Sunday – a significant stop on his whirlwind trip through the region.

Iranian soccer club Sepahan has been punished by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for displaying a bust of a divisive general, who was assassinated by the United States in 2020, which caused the cancelation of a game against a Saudi team.

Twenty four US military personnel sustained minor injuries from drone and rocket attacks on coalition military bases in Iraq and Syria on October 18, a US Central Command official told CNN on Wednesday.