U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the progress on Wednesday of indirect talks between Iran and the United States, saying there had been "very good meetings" in Doha.

"As far as things are going, the denuclearization of Iran is moving along well. They've had very good meetings, and we'll see," Trump told reporters as he prepared to board his new Qatar-gifted Air Force One plane for a trip to North Dakota.

Israel's defense minister said Wednesday that Israeli forces would remain in self-proclaimed "security zones" established in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, without any timeline for withdrawal.

"The IDF will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza indefinitely in order to protect our residents and communities from jihadist elements," Israel Katz said.

Indirect talks in Doha between officials from the United States and Iran aimed at ending the Middle East war have started, a diplomat with knowledge of the talks told AFP on Wednesday.

The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks, confirmed negotiations were underway after they earlier said the U.S. and Iran were to hold "indirect technical talks on Wednesday in Doha with Qatari and Pakistani mediators".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, vowing that the Israeli army would stay in the area as long as Hezbollah remained a "threat".

His comments came after Lebanon and Israel signed a framework agreement under U.S. sponsorship last week to supposedly pave the way for peace between them and disarm Hezbollah.

The hundreds of millions who use Meta-owned messenger WhatsApp to chat with family, friends or businesses will no longer need to share phone numbers under a coming update, the company said Monday.

Gaza health officials said Israeli strikes killed five people including a child in the Palestinian territory.

Rescuers from around the world pushed Tuesday to save any final survivors trapped under mountains of rubble after Venezuela's massive quakes that killed over 1,700 people, with tens of thousands still unaccounted for.

Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday that Britain would spend a "record" of almost £300 billion ($397 billion) over the next four years to modernize its armed forces in the face of rising threats.

Iran will respond to any U.S. violation of the memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war in the Middle East, its foreign ministry spokesperson said Tuesday, as delegations from both sides were expected in Qatar for indirect talks on the deal.

"We will not leave any action unanswered. As Iran's powerful armed forces have demonstrated, any act of aggression against the objectives of the Islamic Republic of Iran will be met with an immediate and decisive response," Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters at a weekly press conference.

More than one million undocumented migrants in Spain have sought legal status under a scheme that has defied a European crackdown on irregular immigration, the government said on Tuesday, the final day for submissions.