America's top defense official vowed Saturday to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to counter its "dangerous use" of suicide drones in the wider Mideast, a pledge coming as negotiations remain stalled over Tehran's tattered atomic deal with world powers.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's comments in Bahrain at the annual Manama Dialogue appeared aimed at reassuring America's Gulf Arab allies as the Biden administration tries to revive the nuclear deal, which limited Iran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Vandals slashed the tires on nearly a dozen Palestinian-owned vehicles overnight in a tense Jerusalem neighborhood where Jewish settlers have been waging a decades-long legal battle to evict Palestinians, residents said Friday.

CCTV footage shows three hooded men entering a fenced-off area of Sheikh Jarrah before stabbing the tires of parked cars. It was unclear who was responsible, but recent weeks have seen an escalation in settler violence toward Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Showing support for Hamas in Britain could be punished with 14 years in prison if the government succeeds in banning the group as a "terrorist organization," the UK's Home Office said Friday.

Celebrated Syrian singer Omar Souleyman was released Friday after being detained on a "terrorist propaganda" charge in southeast Turkey, his lawyer told AFP.

"Omar Souleyman was released at 10:00 am (0700 GMT)," his lawyer Resit Tuna said.

The so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators has urged Israel and the Palestinians to address an array of challenges — ongoing violence in the West Bank, the advancement of new settlement units in Palestinian territories, and "the untenable fiscal crisis within the Palestinian Authority."

A statement following an in-person meeting of Quartet envoys from the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia in Norway's capital, Oslo, welcomed steps announced by Israel "to reach out to the Palestinian Authority and to assist with the fiscal crisis."

A video has emerged showing an Israeli soldier lining up school-aged Palestinian children and photographing them in a nighttime raid on their home. The video shines a light on the military's tactics in the occupied West Bank, which activists say violate Palestinian rights.

The video was released Wednesday by the Israeli rights group B'tselem and shows soldiers in a Palestinian home after dark. The Palestinian adults are seen gathering up the children from the home — some of them appearing to have been roused from sleep — and ushering them onto a balcony. A girl is seen crying, and a woman comforts her by saying "it's just routine."

Israel has charged a domestic worker employed by the country's defense minister with espionage for allegedly offering to use his proximity to the minister to relay information to Iran, Israel's domestic security agency Shin Bet said Thursday.

The man, identified as Omri Goren, worked at Defense Minister Benny Gantz' home as a cleaner and caretaker. The Shin Bet said he initiated contact with an unnamed "Iranian entity" though social media, sending photos of different items around the house including pictures of the minister's computer.

More than 400 Iraqis sought to fly home from Belarus on Thursday, abandoning their hopes of reaching the European Union following more than a week of tensions at the bloc's eastern border where hundreds of migrants remain stuck.

A plane carrying an unknown number is expected to depart from Minsk in the early afternoon and make two stops — one in the city of Erbil and another in the capital, Baghdad. A total of 430 Iraqis have registered for flights home, and most of those were already at the airport, according to Iraq's consul in Russia Majid al-Kilani.

Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, arrived in Cairo on Thursday for the first time in 15 years, hoping to promote tolerance and cement bilateral ties. The visit is part of the royal couple's first tour since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is also their first visit to Egypt since the country was rocked by a popular uprising in 2011 that was followed by years of political turmoil.

An Israeli couple held by Turkey on suspicion of espionage returned home on Thursday after they were released from a weeklong detention.

Mordi and Natalie Oknin arrived to their home in central Israel where they were greeted by family and a crowd of reporters. From her apartment's balcony, Natalie thanked all those involved in securing their release.