Armed forces says hundreds of operatives dead since Egypt launched major campaign to eliminate ISIS or related groups from Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian ISIS affiliate tells UK news outlet it has sworn allegiance to new Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim Hashimi al-Quraishi.
Iran scales back compliance wtih 2015 nuclear deal, goes from producing some 450 grams (1 pound) of low-enriched uranium a day to 5 kilograms (11 pounds), the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says.
Dozens of Iraqi protesters scale the concrete barriers ringing the Iranian consulate in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, bringing down an Iranian flag and replacing it with the Iraqi flag. An Iranian cleric, meanwhile, says the main source of the “lack of security, the backwardness, the disputes and the plundering of property in Iraq” is the US Embassy in Baghdad.
"Like Jesus Christ, I bear all the sins on my shoulders," says Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, who cautions others from following in his footsteps.
Islamic State affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula swears loyalty to Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, as Egyptian forces' counterterrorism efforts in the region continue.
As anti-government demonstrations in Iraq gain momentum, populist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has demanded Abdel Abdul Mahdi resigns as prime minister. Shiite Iran has emerged as a key power broker in Iraqi politics and if Iraq falls further into crisis, Iran risks losing the influence it has steadily been amassing in the country.
State Department tells Congress that the White House budget office and National Security Council had decided to withhold foreign military assistance but does not give a reason for the decision. The move comes two days after the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says US and Western intelligence services are stoking unrest in Lebanon and Iraq. Tehran understands the situation better than others because it had had to "suppress similar foreign interference at home," he says.
A senior official familiar with the recently resigned prime minister's thinking says Hariri could return if the next government includes technocrats and can quickly implement reforms to stave off economic collapse. Banks remain closed for an 11th working day on Wednesday but the Association of Lebanese Banks says they would resume normal operations and receive customers on Friday.
Syrian state media reports on fighting between the two countries near the town of Ras al-Ain, a border town that is in the disputed area that Turkey has recently invaded.
