Israel bristled on Sunday at the lifting of international sanctions on Iran and vowed to flag up any violations of its arch-foe's nuclear restrictions while drawing on U.S. defense aid to prepare for a possible military face-off in the future.

• January 17, 2016

Three Iranian-Americans left Tehran for a U.S. base in Germany on Sunday under a prisoner swap following the lifting of most international sanctions on Iran under a deal that President Barack Obama said had cut off Tehran's path to a nuclear bomb.

• January 17, 2016

Oil prices plummeted to $29 a barrel Friday on the likely resumption soon of Iranian oil exports into an already flooded market as international sanctions against Iran are lifted, dragging equity indices around the world sharply lower.

• January 15, 2016

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Friday a new objective of Russian forces in Syria was to provide humanitarian aid.

• January 15, 2016

Love him or hate him, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military intervention in Syria unquestionably upended Middle Eastern politics. Putin supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, established several military bases in Syria, created a de-facto Russian-Shi’ite axis, confronted Turkey and forced the West to re-engage with him.

• January 14, 2016

The Philippines has asked the United States to hold joint naval patrols, a defense ministry spokesman said on Thursday, amid a territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea.

• January 14, 2016

Western sanctions on Moscow are intended to exert long-term pressure on Russia and not to push it "over the economic cliff," a U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday.

• January 12, 2016

Iran has not yet decommissioned the Arak heavy water reactor, one of its obligations under the nuclear deal with world powers to win a reprieve from sanctions, but expects to do so in the coming days, a senior Iranian official said.

• January 12, 2016