The Iraqi government said Saturday it was holding talks with the United States to secure an exemption from then ban on Iranian airlines, which has disrupted travel for patients, students and pilgrims.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold chief of staff talks to support the kingdom, Riyadh said in a statement on Friday, as Yemen's Houthis ramp up attacks on the world's top crude exporter.

The Iran-backed group has escalated its attacks on the kingdom since July, ending a years-long truce and declaring a maritime blockade, hitting Saudi targets and seizing Yemen's entire Red Sea coast as they seek to stifle Saudi oil exports.

In southern Lebanon, eight-year-old Yara Ajami started the academic year this week in a doorless, windowless classroom after her school was destroyed by an Israeli strike.

Well known in the area for its excellence, Ajami's elementary school in Burj Qalaway was struck by Israel in May.

Russia on Friday said a Ukrainian strike killed three people -- which it said were aid volunteers from Siberia -- in the Moscow-occupied part of the southern Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region.

Kremlin-installed official Yevgeny Balitsky said "three volunteers from (Russia's) Omsk region were killed as a result of a cynical terrorist attack on a civilian vehicle delivering humanitarian aid" near the village of Novobogdanivka.

The four main European football leagues -- the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A and Germany's Bundesliga -- called on Friday for a reform of FIFA.

The sport's governing body has been mired in crisis since the revelation of a shelved plan to create a commercial company open to private investors.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said U.S. President Donald Trump told him he would allow Ukraine to produce advanced Patriot air defense missiles, after a series of reversals on the issue.

"At our last meeting, President Trump emphasized to me that yes, I have made a final decision. Ukraine will receive licenses for the production of Patriot missiles," Zelensky said in a voice note to journalists.

Iran has submitted a proposal to the United States to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, its foreign minister told media outlets in New York.

"If certain conditions are met, the strait will be open within seven days and talks will start," Abbas Araghchi, who is in the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly, told media outlets including the New York Times and The Guardian.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday that his country did not want to be an arena for regional wars.

Lebanon has repeatedly accused Iran of interfering in its affairs, especially since the start of the latest war, alleging that Tehran was using it as a "bargaining chip" in talks with the United States.

The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Houthis said Thursday that its forces intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the Iran-backed group, thwarting attacks on the Saudi cities of Taif and Yanbu.

"Escalations and violations by the terrorist Houthi militia will be dealt with firmly," said coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki in a series of posts on X.

Iranian media said on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates had suspended flights operated by Iran's airlines, to comply with U.S. sanctions.

"All flights by Iranian airlines to the United Arab Emirates have been cancelled since midnight," the ISNA news agency said.