Video: Iran regime ‘crazy enough’ to use a nuclear weapon, senator says

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel was the main reason for the deterioration of Iran's relations with the United Arab Emirates.

Araghchi said there was "a great deal of evidence" that the United States and Israel had used the UAE's airspace and territory against Iran.

He also said Iran had documents and evidence showing that in some cases the UAE had personally participated in military operations against the Islamic Republic.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Kuwait’s foreign minister on Thursday and condemned Iran’s attacks on Kuwait International Airport and other parts of the country, while pledging continued US support for Kuwait’s security.

In a meeting with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al Sabah, Rubio "reiterated the commitment of the United States to Kuwait’s security, to ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon, and restoration of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz," the State Department said.

"The Secretary also condemned Iran’s outrageous and unacceptable attacks targeting Kuwait International Airport and other parts of the country and expressed condolences for those killed and injured in that attack," it added.

"We stand with the Kuwaiti people during this difficult time."

Three Iranian Kurdish opposition parties told Iran International they had received no weapons from Israel or the United States, rejecting the reports as entirely false.

Abdullah Mohtadi, secretary-general of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, told Iran International that his party has not received any weapons from Israel or the United States.

Khalid Azizi, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, also told Iran International that his party has received no weapons from Israel or the United States, saying the reports are “completely untrue.”

Reza Kaabi, secretary-general of the Komala Party of Toilers of Kurdistan, also denied receiving any weapons from Israel or the United States and said other Iranian Kurdish parties had not received any weapons from the two countries either.

Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French artist, filmmaker and author of the autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis, has died aged 56, French President Emmanuel Macron's office said on Thursday.

"Her passing is that of a figure of French culture and of an artist enamored of freedom, whose work carried a universal message and had earned her immense international renown," the Elysee said in a statement.

A statement released by members of her family to AFP said she had died of "sadness" a little over a year after the death of her husband, Swedish actor, producer and screenwriter Mattias Ripa. No further information about the cause of her death was available.

Born in 1969, Satrapi spent her childhood in Tehran, was sent to Vienna as a teenager, returned to Iran to study fine arts and later settled in France.

She drew on that life of revolution, exile and return in Persepolis, a black-and-white memoir about her childhood during and after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The book became an international success and was later adapted into an animated film that won the jury prize at Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Satrapi also became a prominent voice on exile, women's freedom and authoritarianism, often using her platform to denounce repression in Iran.

Iran-backed Iraqi armed faction Kataib Hezbollah said it would not hand over its weapons.

"Not even a single bullet from a handgun will be handed over," the group said in a statement.

It said the groups that had moved toward handing over weapons "have not been in the ranks of the resistance for a long time" and had not been targeted "even once by the American enemy."

"As for the resistance factions, they remain firm, complete and preserving all their capabilities," the group said.