The regime's new victory in Homs and rebel advances in the north and south of Syria are signs that both sides are looking to make headway before much-touted peace talks.

"Having consolidated its victory in Homs, the regime controls all the area stretching from Damascus to the coast," says analyst Karim Bitar of the French Institute of International and Strategic Relations.

Bulgaria released pictures Thursday of two suspected helpers of a bomber who blew up a bus packed with Israeli tourists last year, identifying them as an Australian and a Canadian.

"A year after the bomb attack on a bus with Israeli tourists that killed five Israelis and one Bulgarian citizen, the authorities are seeking public assistance for information on two people suspected of having links to the attack," the interior ministry said in a statement.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday urged greater pressure on Iran over its nuclear program as he met Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Jerusalem.

"I think we need to increase the pressure on Iran. Only by doing this will there be real changes in the attitude of that country," Netanyahu's office was quoted him as saying at the meeting.

Congress is considering a new series of hard-hitting Iran sanctions on everything from mining and construction to the Islamic republic's already besieged oil industry, despite concern from the Obama administration that the measures could interfere with nuclear negotiations.

House and Senate bills are both advancing at a time President Barack Obama's national security team is gauging whether Iranian President-elect Hasan Rouhani is serious about halting some elements of Tehran's uranium enrichment activity. Those involved in the process said the administration wants to temper Congressional plans until Rouhani takes office in August and has an opportunity to demonstrate whether his government will offer concessions.

Iran has denounced the European Union for its decision to blacklist Hizbullah's armed wing as a terror group, accusing it of acting in Israel's interests, Iranian media reported Tuesday.

Iran and Hizbullah are both sworn enemies of Israel and the Lebanese Shiite group has received Tehran's moral, financial and military support since its inception.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Sunday that Washington was "not trustworthy", after former U.S. officials and lawmakers urged diplomacy with the Islamic republic's incoming president Hassan Rowhani.

"I said at the beginning of the (Iranian) year that I am not optimistic about negotiations with the U.S., though in the past years I did not forbid negotiating (with them) about certain issues like Iraq," he told top officials at an "iftar" evening meal that breaks the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

World powers hope Hassan Rowhani's election as president of Iran will provide fresh impetus and "a change in tone" in ongoing talks on the country's controversial nuclear program.

A senior Western diplomat talking on condition of anonymity said Friday that the so-called P5+1 group of global powers negotiating with Iran hoped to see a new team appointed "soon" in Tehran so the talks can resume "as soon as possible."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in Iraq on Thursday that Tehran and Baghdad have an "exceptional" role to play in the region's security.

"The role of the two countries in the security of the region is exceptional," Ahmadinejad told reporters in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, but without elaborating.

Iran's president-elect has sent messages to Syria's Bashar Assad and Hizbullah, reaffirming support for the two allies.

The official IRNA news agency on Tuesday cited Hassan Rowhani as saying close Iranian-Syrian ties will be able to confront "enemies in the region, especially the Zionist regime," or Israel.

Former U.S. officials called Monday for President Barack Obama to pursue diplomacy with Iran's new president after Israel showed a hard line over Tehran's nuclear program.

In their latest letter to Obama, the ex-policymakers said the election of centrist cleric Hassan Rowhani, who will assume the presidency on August 3, "presents a major potential opportunity."