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The Associated Press
Israeli airstrikes killed five people in Gaza and three in the West Bank on Friday, despite a fragile ceasefire brokered by the United States.
Meanwhile, thousands of sailors remain stranded in the Persian Gulf by the Iran war, while Iran is touting an energy deal with Russia and the U.S. has imposed restrictions on a major Egyptian bank for its ties with Iran.
Here's a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 5
Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed five people, local hospital officials said Friday.
Two brothers and another relative died in a strike on the family's home outside Khan Younis, officials at Nasser Hospital said. Two separate Israeli strikes killed one person each in Gaza City, according to health officials at Shifa hospital.
Israel's military confirmed the Gaza strikes but said it was not aware of the one in Khan Younis.
The five deaths are among more than 1,300 Palestinians killed in airstrikes since an October ceasefire deal, Gaza health officials say.
ATTACK KILLS 3 in JENIN
Israel's military said it killed three Palestinians in an airstrike in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, describing one of the dead as a Hamas operative and the two others as accomplices.
The military identified one of the targets as Qais Bitawi who was alleged to be "involved in advancing significant terrorist activity." The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed Bitawi had been killed, along with two others. Hamas condemned the strike as a "heinous crime."
Violence has escalated in the West Bank, where at least 87 Palestinians have been killed in attacks while three Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in 2026.
Iranian leader bans actions undermining national unity
Iran's leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, on Friday declared that actions undermining national unity in the political, security, cultural, social or economic spheres are prohibited.
He warned that even measures with some support could ultimately be harmful if their broader social consequences are ignored.
"Any statement that creates despair or weakens national and public motivation," as well as what Khamenei called false divisions such as "war or negotiations," "consensus or radicalism" and "compromise or warmongering," could damage the country.
IRANIAN PRESIDENT: NEGOTIATIONS NEEDED BETWEEN IRAN, US
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Friday that neither Tehran nor Washington can achieve all of its demands and that negotiations are needed to bring stability and calm, state television reported.
Pezeshkian said Iran would remain committed to the Islamabad memorandum if the United States upheld its own commitments under the agreement, adding that negotiations could then continue toward a broader resolution.
He also criticized hard-liners inside Iran who oppose an agreement, favor continuing the war and argue that sanctions have had little effect on the country.
THOUSANDS OF SAILORS STRANDED
The U.N.'s maritime agency said Friday that 19 seafarers have been killed and at least 6,000 remain stranded on hundreds of ships unable to leave the region since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28.
There have been at least 70 attacks on international shipping in the Persian Gulf, according to the International Maritime Organization.
About 20% of the world's traded oil and natural gas passed through the vital commercial waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf before the war.
IRAN, RUSSIA LOOK TO
REVIVE ENERGY DEAL
Iran's ambassador to Russia on Friday said the two countries are seeking to deepen links between their energy grids by reviving a plan that dates to 2022, according to Iranian state media.
Umud Shokri, a fellow at George Mason University, said the plan calls for piping 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas annually into Iran, via Azerbaijan.
He said that would help Iran weather U.S. economic pressure by alleviating seasonal shortages of gas, though there are significant hurdles, as building out the infrastructure would be expensive and time-consuming.
US IMPOSES RESTRICTIONS
ON EGYPTIAN BANK
The Trump administration is taking steps to limit an Egyptian bank's operations in the United Arab Emirates.
Banque Misr, Egypt's second-largest bank, is accused of serving as an economic lifeline to Iran's leadership. But under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Treasury, the bank's Emirati branches would be severed from access to the U.S. financial system.
The Central Bank of Egypt said the restrictions are limited to Banque Misr's branches in the UAE and relate to dollar transfers only. No other Egyptian bank is affected.
IRAN OBJECTS TO US ECONOMIC PRESSURE
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Friday condemned a new round of U.S. economic measures against the country, calling them "economic terrorism" and saying Tehran would use all available means to counter them.
The ministry said the sanctions violated international law and called on other countries to refrain from implementing them.
Earlier this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent vowed to fully sever Iran from the global economy and threatened countries that continue to do business with Iran with secondary sanctions.