Saudi Arabia cautiously welcomed on Monday a nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers, saying "good intentions" could lead to a comprehensive agreement on Tehran's controversial atomic program.

"This agreement could be a first step towards a comprehensive solution for Iran's nuclear program, if there are good intentions," the government said in a statement.

The EU ambassador-designate to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, on Monday sought to reassure the Israelis over a nuclear deal struck with Iran.

Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program for the next six months in exchange for limited sanctions relief following marathon talks with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany in Geneva that ended Sunday.

A Tunisian court Monday handed suspended four-month prison sentences to a Tunisian rapper and a journalist accused of insulting public officials, and acquitted another musician, their lawyer told Agence France Presse.

"This is an initial victory, because they risked a year and six months in prison," Ghazi Mrabet said, adding that he would discuss the verdict with his clients and advise them to appeal.

Two policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded early Monday at a checkpoint in a northeastern Cairo neighborhood that houses a presidential palace, judicial sources said.

The bomb was planted in a bush and went off at dawn in the capital's Al-Amiriya neighborhood, they said, adding that an investigation was launched to find the perpetrators of the attack.

Syrian government and opposition negotiators will meet for the first time since start of the country's 32 month-old war in Geneva from January 22, the U.N. announced Monday.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon called the landmark conference "a mission of hope" to end the civil war.

A Saudi court on Monday sentenced to death an al-Qaida member convicted of a 2004 attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, in which five people were killed.

The special security tribunal sentenced 19 others to up to 25 years in jail over various charges, including supporting the attack on the U.S. mission and plotting other "terrorist attacks," SPA state news agency said.

Iraq attacks, including a market bombing and the assassination of a former MP, killed 34 people Monday as France offered to help combat a surge in bloodshed ahead of elections.

The protracted rise in violence, which has seen at least 500 people killed already this month, has fueled fears Iraq is on the brink of plunging back into the brutal Sunni-Shiite sectarian war that plagued it years ago.

France on Monday offered weapons, training and intelligence cooperation to help Iraq combat worsening violence amid fears the country is on the verge of returning to all-out sectarian bloodshed.

The latest pledge comes after Baghdad appealed for international help in dealing with the protracted surge in militancy, with Iraq having already turned to Washington for help, while Turkey also offered assistance.

Syrian rebels pressed an offensive in the Damascus and Aleppo provinces, in an escalation that has killed 194 fighters on both sides in the past three days, a monitoring group said Monday.

Rebels in Eastern Ghouta, east of Damascus, are trying to break the army siege on opposition areas there, taking over several small villages and checkpoints, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Qatar is the latest Gulf Arab state to welcome the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, calling it a step toward greater stability in the region.

The Gulf's main political power, Saudi Arabia, has previously expressed unease about U.S. outreach to Iran. The dialogue helped along efforts by Washington and others to strike a deal with Iran seeking to ease Western concerns that Tehran could move toward nuclear weapons.