Iraq is trying to convince powerful armed factions in the country that have fought U.S. forces and fired rockets and drones at Israel to lay down their weapons or join official security forces, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said.

Baghdad: The Iraqi government has increased pressure on Iran-backed armed groups operating in the country to lay down their arms. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said efforts were being made to persuade Iran-backed fighters to lay down their arms or join the official security forces.

Baghdad’s push to dismantle armed groups working outside of the state apparatus comes as Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah have taken heavy blows, and Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria has been repl

The presidents of Russia and Iran have signed a broad cooperation pact to deepen their partnership amid stinging Western sanctions.

Iran's military power and influence has been badly weakened and clashes with Israel and the fall of Bashar Assad in Syria have left it reeling.

Iran this month launched its most extensive military exercises in decades, flying thousands of drones, parading rocket launchers and ballistic missiles, and thwarting a simulated assault on a nuclear facility that involved “a multitude of air threats,” according to state television coverage.

"We announce that we will suspend our military operations against [Israel]," the Nujaba Movement's leader said.

Iran's Minister of Energy and Iraq's Minister of Electricity and Energy met to discuss electricity exchange and the export of technical and engineering services in the power sector. According to Iran's Ministry of Energy,

A senior Israeli official says the government is working with allies in a renewed push to win the freedom of an Israeli-Russian researcher who is believed to have been kidnapped in Iraq nearly two years ago.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said on Monday he would sign a bilateral security deal with Britain as well as a strategic partnership accord as he headed to London for an official visit against a backdrop of historic shifts in the Middle East.

Iraq and the United Kingdom have agreed on a trade package worth up to 12.3 billion pounds, the Iraqi prime minister's office said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Khamenei continues to resist such notions. In a defiant speech on January 8, he lambasted the U.S. as an imperialist power and pledged that Iran would continue to “back the resistance in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Yemen.” He criticized “those who want us to negotiate with the U.S. … and have their embassy in Iran.”