Middle East

Iran's defense minister warned that those trying "to violate the sacred territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be met with a decisive and crushing blow that will instill regret."

Russia has also blamed the U.K. and U.S. for purposely instigating tensions with Iran, which has denied targeting vessels in the Persian Gulf.

Israeli Education Minister Rafi Peretz reportedly said that Jews have "lost 6 million people" to intermarriage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the F-35I Adir fighter jet "can reach anywhere in the Middle East, including Iran and certainly Syria."

"Trump is on a collision course with himself," top Iran nuclear deal negotiator Robert Malley said during a press call.

The palace site, known as Kemune, was until recently covered by water from a reservoir, according to archaeologists.

"I will never apologize for the United States," then-Vice President George H.W. Bush told a campaign rally less than a month after the U.S. Navy killed 290 civilians on Iran Air Flight 655.

"There is little doubt that even before the deal's existence, Iran was violating its terms," the White House has claimed.

The Kremlin's spokesperson said "there is definitely no connection" between a recent U.S. strike and the meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the meeting "positive" and "a step forward," but stated that "it is still not enough."

"He said he would try to do better," the former Secretary of State said of Kushner's quiet dealings with foreign officials. "Not much changed."

"We hope that enemies of the country will grasp that the IRGC will spare no efforts to defend its marine, land and airspace and will respond to all threats powerfully," the Revolutionary Guards' navy commander said.

"If there are any countries with clearer evidence, then the international community will certainly listen to them," the U.A.E.'s top diplomat said of last month's attacks in the Gulf of Oman.

Russia has backed Iran's claim that the U.S. Navy drone shot down over the Strait of Hormuz had strayed from international airspace into that of the Islamic Republic.

Russia's national security secretary told his U.S. and Israeli counterparts that it was "inadmissible" to compare Iran to ISIS, which both Moscow and Tehran fought together in Syria.

President Donald Trump claimed that "Iran leadership doesn't understand the words 'nice' or 'compassion,' they never have."

Iran's U.N. envoy said new sanctions were "yet another indication that the U.S. has no respect for international law and order as well as the views of the overwhelming majority of the international community."

President Donald Trump said the U.S. doesn't "even need to be" in the Strait of Hormuz, but at the same time bolstered defense ties with Saudi Arabia.

"Iranians have different ideas—some are really worried and afraid of a war, others don't care or don't think it would happen," Fereshteh Sadeghi said. At the end of the day, it's Donald Trump's call.

As tensions between the U.S. and Iran approached the brink of military action, unanswered questions remained about recent incidents in the Middle East.

While President Donald Trump claimed a general told him his aborted strikes would have killed "150 people," a senior Iranian official said he held back on a strike against a U.S. spy plane carrying 35 people.

President Donald Trump had ordered a series of strikes against Iran in response to the downing of a state-of-the-art drone, but the military operation was called off while in its early stages on Thursday.

Iran's top diplomat said his country has "retrieved sections of the US military drone in OUR territorial waters where it was shot down" something the Pentagon disputes.

Iran's top diplomat said his country does not "seek war, but will zealously defend our skies, land & waters."

Iran claims to have used a natively produced surface-to-air missile system to take down a state-of-the-art U.S. drone as tensions peaked between the longtime rivals.

Moscow's special Syria envoy said Lebanon and Iraq "commend the efforts made by Russia in recent years to maintain the unity of Syria, their neighbor country" and would join in on a key meeting next month.

"Don't test us," Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned as he referenced threats "from the north, south and east."

Syria's top diplomat said "we hope that our military and the Turkish military do not fight" as violence escalates in jihadi-dominated Idlib province.

Russia's top diplomat has seen "the very vague alleged evidence provided by the United States, some video footage, some pictures, which raise serious questions even among its closest allies."

Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the U.S. to avoid taking unilateral actions that have no basis in international law.