US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that while “the United States does not seek conflict with Iran,” it will act to defend itself “swiftly and decisively” against attacks by Iran or its proxies, and called on United Nations member states to urge Iran not to become directly involved in the Israel-Hamas war.

The US has intelligence that Iranian-backed militia groups are planning to ramp up attacks against US forces in the Middle East, as Iran seeks to capitalize on the backlash in the region to US support for Israel, according to multiple US officials.

A teenage Iranian girl who fell into a coma after she was allegedly assaulted by the country’s morality police for not wearing a headscarf is “brain dead,” state-aligned media said.

A US navy ship intercepts missiles launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Two American bases in Syria come under fire. In Iraq, drones and rockets fired at US forces.

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Islamist movement with one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East. The group, which has its main base on the Israel-Lebanon border, could become a wildcard player in the Hamas-Israel war, and spark a wider regional conflict.

Beijing is once again trying to have it both ways.

The Biden administration on Wednesday unveiled new sanctions targeting Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programs as the United States and dozens of other partners vowed to continue to counter those programs as a set of United Nations restrictions expired.

The US shot down two one-way attack drones targeting US forces in Iraq, according to a defense official, as American embassies face protests in a number of Middle East countries because of the war in Gaza.

President Joe Biden’s pick for ambassador to Israel, former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, will face tough questions from Senate Republicans during his confirmation hearing Wednesday morning – and some are already signaling that they may slow down consideration of his nomination on the Senate floor.

When war broke out in Ukraine last year, Federal Reserve officials were quick to speak about it.

US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in the early hours of Tuesday in Tel Aviv.

On the face of it, the crossfire on Lebanon’s border with Israel appears marginal, dwarfed by the scale and intensity of the Hamas-Israel war further south.

Relief groups are calling for urgently needed humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, which the United Nations says is being “strangled” by Israel’s tight siege.

Gaza is being “strangled” by Israel’s week-long siege and aerial bombardment, UN experts have warned, as concerns grow that further escalation and a lack of safety for fleeing civilians risks drawing regional foes into the long-running conflict.

US leaders are mounting an urgent effort to prevent Israel’s war against Hamas and a resulting civilian catastrophe in Gaza from escalating into a widening regional conflict that could snowball into an even greater geopolitical crisis after this month’s horrific attacks.

Conditions in Gaza have deteriorated into a “complete catastrophe,” according to one official, with serious shortages of clean water and food as tens of thousands of Palestinians attempt to flee crippling airstrikes and an imminent Israeli ground offensive.

Tens of thousands of people in Gaza have fled their homes after Israel’s military issued a stark evacuation order Friday, according to the United Nation’s humanitarian body, prompting international alarm as Israeli troops gather by the border and as conditions worsen inside the bombarded strip.

Persistently high inflation took a toll on Americans’ attitudes this month as many began to pay back student loans following a three-year hiatus.

Global energy prices are finishing the week the way they started — shooting higher as a cocktail of risks to supply have put investors on edge.

Iran has loomed large as one of Hamas’ most generous financial backers, providing the militant group crucial resources it needs to carry out acts of terrorism. But investigators in the US and across the globe have identified another revenue source being exploited by Hamas: Far-flung online donors offering support in cryptocurrency.

The brutal rampage by Islamist militant group Hamas on Israel last weekend involved thousands of rockets and missiles, drones dropping explosives, and untold numbers of small arms and ammunition.

The war between Israel and Hamas is unlikely to have a significant impact on the global economy, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday.

The US intelligence community is digging through its stores of data and tasking the nation’s spy agencies to hunt for fresh clues to determine whether Iran played a direct role in Saturday’s deadly attack on Israel by Hamas, a senior Biden administration official said Tuesday.

In the wake of Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel, former President Donald Trump is turning to a strategy he employed during the 2016 campaign of using terror abroad – and fears of future attacks on American soil – to push for hard-line immigration policies in the United States.

Cataclysmic events like the Hamas onslaught on Israel trigger profound political shocks and strategic transformations that no one could predict at the time.

Global oil prices climbed 4% Monday over fears that the unprecedented weekend attack on Israel by Hamas could escalate into a regional conflict embroiling oil-producing nations.

The shock Hamas incursion into Israel was of a scale and sophistication that was previously considered unthinkable. Was Iran involved?

Israel has declared war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas after it carried out an unprecedented attack by air, sea and land on Saturday.

A weekend of terror in Israel has sharpened already grave questions about the capacity of the politically fractured United States to lay out a unified and coherent response to a world spinning out of its control.

The Biden administration has yet to find a smoking gun linking Iran directly to planning and executing the attack on Israel this weekend, US officials told CNN on Sunday.