Turkey will buy a first batch of two F-35A Joint Strike Fighters as a sign of its commitment to the troubled U.S.-led program, the government's defense procurement agency said on Thursday.

A statement said the government had authorized the order to meet the future needs of the Turkish air force for next-generation fighter planes.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday ordered the transfer of the U.S. military prison at Bagram to Afghan control within a month, citing reports of human rights violations there.

Karzai issued the order after receiving a report detailing "many cases of violations of Afghan Constitution and other applicable laws of the country, the relevant international conventions and human rights," his office said.

Syria accused the United States on Wednesday of interfering in Arab League affairs, as a U.S. envoy traveled to Cairo for talks with the bloc about ending the Damascus regime's deadly crackdown on dissent.

Meanwhile, democracy activists have denounced the 22-member Arab bloc over the "unprofessionalism" of a team of peace observers whose presence in Syria has failed to stem the bloodshed.

Iran on Wednesday renewed its warning to America against keeping a U.S. navy presence in the oil-rich Gulf, underlining a threat that Washington has dismissed as a sign of "weakness" from Tehran.

"Iran will do anything to preserve the security of the Strait of Hormuz" at the entrance to the Gulf, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, according to the website of Iran's state television.

The White House on Tuesday condemned the Syrian regime's unrelenting violence against protesters, saying it was "past time" for the U.N. Security Council to take actions against Damascus.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Syria had failed to comply with standards set by Arab observers monitoring the situation, adding that "as sniper fire, torture, and murder in Syria continue, it is clear that the requirements of the Arab League protocol have not been met."

A threat by Iran to unleash the "full force" of its navy if a U.S. aircraft carrier is redeployed to the Gulf, and an immediate American dismissal of the warning, sent tensions and oil prices soaring on Tuesday.

The unprecedentedly sharp rhetoric raised the possibility of conflict breaking out between arch-foes Tehran and Washington, pitching a long standoff over Iran's nuclear program into dangerous new territory.

A trial in Iran of an American-Iranian man accused of being a CIA spy has finished and he is now awaiting the verdict, the country's chief prosecutor said Monday, according to the Mehr news agency.

The prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie, also rejected a U.S. government call for the accused man, Amir Mirzai Hekmati, to be released.

Top negotiator Saeed Jalili said Iran was ready to rejoin EU-led talks with major powers on assuaging Western concerns over its nuclear program even as tensions with the United States soared in the Gulf.

"We will give a resounding and many-pronged response to any threat against the Islamic Republic of Iran," Jalili told Iranian diplomats gathered in Tehran in comments reported on Saturday.

Security forces on Friday closed all the roads leading to the U.S. Embassy in Awkar because of a nearby rally that was held in celebration of the American withdrawal from Iraq, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.

A statement from the demonstrators praised “the Iraqi people and their resistance that contributed to the country’s liberation.”

A roadside bomb killed four civilians in Afghanistan's southern province of Uruzgan Friday, the provincial head of the crime investigation unit said.

"Four civilians were killed and one injured when their vehicle hit a Taliban-planted mine in Trinkot city this morning," said Gulab Khan.