May 23 talks in Baghdad between Iran and world powers on Tehran's nuclear program will likely not resolve all issues, an aide to Iran's supreme leader said on Monday.

But Gholam Ali Hadad Adel, a lawmaker who is a senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stressed that the powers on the other side of the table should lift their "illogical sanctions" at the meeting, the Mehr news agency reported.

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Director of Political and Civil Affairs Milos Strugar said on Monday that the strategic dialogue with the Lebanese army is essential, denying any role for the UNIFIL in Syria.

“Dialogue is essential not only to boost the army’s abilities but to also enable it to progress towards a permanent ceasefire,” Strugar told As Safir newspaper in an interview.

Sudan on Saturday rejected U.N. Security Council involvement in efforts to end weeks of border clashes with South Sudan, which said it repelled an attack by Khartoum-backed rebels.

"Sudan confirms that it rejects any efforts to disturb the African Union role and take the situation between Sudan and South Sudan to the U.N. Security Council," Foreign Minister Ali Karti said after a month of deadly clashes which have raised fears of a wider war.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Saturday that it will resume talks with Iran on Tehran's nuclear program in mid-May.

Iran's envoy to the U.N. watchdog, Ali Asghar Soltanieh told the official news agency IRNA Friday that a new round of talks would be held in Vienna on May 13 and 14.

The United States could let Iran partially enrich uranium in return for strict measures to curb its ability to build a nuclear bomb, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

In what would be a major concession, Washington could agree to allow Tehran to enrich uranium up to five percent purity if the Islamic Republic agrees to unrestricted inspections of its nuclear sites and other conditions, the newspaper said, citing U.S. officials.

Syria's main opposition group on Thursday called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting as it accused regime forces of killing more than 100 people in the central city of Hama in recent days.

"We are calling for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council so that it can issue a resolution to protect civilians in Syria," the Syrian National Council said in a statement.

Hizbullah international relations officer Ammar Moussawi slammed United Nations Chief Ban Ki-moon’s semi-annual report on the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559.

Moussawi expressed irritation during a meeting with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly over the language used by Banin his report concerning the arms of the resistance.

Iran on Tuesday warned that new U.S. sanctions targeting its access to surveillance technology were "negative" and could adversely affect its crucial talks next month with world powers over Tehran's nuclear program.

"We consider any kind of sanction as negative and a wrong step," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in his weekly briefing.

A new spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been appointed, As Safir newspaper reported on Monday.

According to the daily, the Italian assistant UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti has succeeded India’s Neeraj Singh.

Syrian forces killed 19 civilians on Sunday across the country, including six in Homs despite the presence of U.N. observers in the rebel province to pave the way for a 300-strong mission approved by the Security Council, monitors said.

Six civilians were killed in Idlib, five in rural Damascus, six in Homs and two in Daraa, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring anti-regime protests on the ground, said.