Middle East Today | The National

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted on Sunday that his country would not end its uranium-enrichment programme, rejecting the key US demand two days after resuming negotiations on a nuclear deal. "We need to focus on discussions that accept enrichment inside ‌Iran while building trust that enrichment is and will stay for peaceful purposes," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington DC on Wednesday to discuss the continuing negotiations between the US and Iran. The visit is seen as a message to Tehran that Mr Trump has alternative options if the talks fail.
Israel's security cabinet approved measures that would make it ⁠easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land, while granting Israeli authorities expanded enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli ‌media reported. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and amounted to de facto annexation.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Assad Al Shibani arrived in Riyadh overnight and was received at the airport by Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Elkhereiji. Mr Al Shibani’s visit came after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met US special envoy Tom Barrack in the Saudi capital earlier in the day, where they discussed developments in Syria. The meeting followed Saudi Arabia’s announcement a day earlier of a major investment package in Syria spanning energy, aviation, real estate and telecommunications. The investments mark the largest such announcement since the US lifted sanctions on Syria in December.
At least nine people were killed and several others injured after two adjoining residential buildings collapsed in the Lebanese city of Tripoli. Justice Minister Adel Nassar asked the public prosecutor in the north to open an immediate investigation into the incident. This latest disaster came after another deadly building collapse in Tripoli late last month. Many buildings in the country were built illegally or without the necessary permits, while some owners have added new floors to existing blocks.
Sudan’s South Kordofan region has seen attacks on three health facilities in the past week alone, leaving more than 30 dead, the World Health Organisation said. “Sudan’s health system is under attack again,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
The UAE welcomed a “Comprehensive Peace Plan” for Sudan announced by the US senior adviser for Arab and African Affairs, Massad Boulos, stressing its support for regional and international efforts to secure a ceasefire in the war-torn country.

Egypt made presentations to Mr Trump's administration to complain about Israel's handling of the Gaza side of Rafah crossing, including allowing only a trickle of Palestinians back to the strip, sources in Cairo told The National.
Syria's government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces made some progress on a US-brokered integration deal crucial for stabilising the resource-rich east of the country, but the threat of renewed warfare lingers, observers said.
Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health expressed “great surprise” following Kuwait's announcement that it had added eight Lebanese hospitals to its national terrorism sanctions list. The Ministry said it received no advance notice from Kuwaiti authorities.
Two children and a Syrian Red Crescent volunteer died due to flooding in Syria’s northwest, according to state media.
Iranian authorities arrested three reformist figures, including the head of Iran’s Reform Front coalition, Azar Mansouri, the state-linked Fars news agency reported. “Azar Mansouri, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh were arrested by security and judicial institutions,” the agency said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog laid a wreath at the site of a December shooting that targeted a Jewish festival on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Iranian activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, who was repeatedly imprisoned throughout her three-decade campaign for women's rights, has been sentenced to new prison terms ‌totalling seven and a half years, a group supporting her said.
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed discussed regional developments during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.