ames LaPorta, correspondent for Newsweek, said on Friday (January 3, 2020) that two Defense Department sources told him that patriot batteries are active in Bahrain, which hosts the US fifth fleet, for alert posture.

Iran has foiled a major cyber attack on its infrastructure that was launched by a foreign government, the Iranian telecoms minister said on Wednesday, two months after reports of a U.S. cyber operation against the country.

The United Nations is "unable to independently corroborate" that missiles and drones used in attacks on Saudi oil facilities in September "are of Iranian origin," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that Tokyo is in discussions about a visit to Japan by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani this month, an attempt to try to resolve Iran's nuclear impasse with the United States.

U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein said on Saturday he was hopeful a bitter dispute between Gulf Arab states could soon end and urged them to unify military capabilities as tensions with Iran simmer.

FIFA, football's world governing body, has fined Bahrain's football federation 20,000 Swiss francs after its fans disrespected the Iranian national anthem before a World Cup qualifying game last month.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday Iran would regain access to the international arms market later next year if it stuck to its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and this would prove "a huge political success".

Iran has begun enriching uranium at its underground Fordow site in the latest breach of its deal with major powers, the U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed on Monday, adding that Tehran’s enriched uranium stock has continued to grow.

Iranian forces shot down a foreign drone over the port city of Mahshahr in its southern Khuzestan province on Friday, state news agency IRNA reported, quoting an Iranian official.

U.N. nuclear inspectors are on the ground in Iran and will report back on relevant activities, an International Atomic Energy Agency spokesman said on Wednesday after Iran said it injected uranium gas into centrifuges at its Fordow site.

Iran will start injecting uranium gas into centrifuges at its underground Fordow enrichment facility, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday, a highly symbolic breach that will complicate European efforts to salvage Tehran’s nuclear deal.

Kuwait’s deputy foreign minister Khaled al-Jarallah said on Tuesday that Kuwait conveyed messages from Iran to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain regarding the situation in the Gulf region, and “until now no answers have emerged”.

Iran said on Monday it had launched a new batch of advanced centrifuges to accelerate uranium enrichment, further reducing compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal following the withdrawal of its arch-foe the United States.

Iran said Saturday it has sent Iraq and Arab states of the Gulf the text of its security and cooperation project first unveiled by President Hassan Rouhani at the UN in September.

The United States said on Thursday it had imposed sanctions on the Iranian construction sector and trade in four materials used in its military or nuclear programs, even as it waived sanctions to let foreign firms continue non-proliferation work in Iran.

The United States on Friday asked foreign governments to submit detailed reports on humanitarian exports to Iran, a step observers said could have a chilling effect and cast a pall over European efforts to allow trade.

A senior Saudi official said on Thursday that a policy of appeasement would not work with Iran and that the only way to get Tehran to the negotiating table was to apply maximum pressure.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi regretted Bahrain's invitation of Israeli delegation to participate in security conference in Manama.

Representatives from more than 60 countries including Israel but not Iran met in Bahrain on Monday to discuss maritime security following attacks on tankers in the Gulf and Saudi oil installations.

The U.S. State Department said on Thursday it has extended by 120 days a waiver to sanctions allowing Iraq to import gas and electricity from Iran as it pushes Baghdad to make the country more energy independent.