Iran threatened to retaliate against the United States and Israel for fresh strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday, further dampening hopes for a lasting peace as the Middle East war reached its 100th day.

The United States said it shot down a pair of Iranian drones threatening the Strait of Hormuz, the latest escalation of violence as the war crept into its 100th day on Sunday with no end in sight.

Iran still has "21, 22 percent" of its missiles left, U.S. President Donald Trump said, in a week in which Tehran fired dozens of them toward regional neighbors, despite a sputtering ceasefire.

The release of frozen Iranian funds has become a key issue in negotiations between Tehran and Washington aimed at ending their war, a senior Iranian official said.

Iran fired missiles at U.S. allies Bahrain and Kuwait on Saturday, after renewed American strikes against it, drawing a furious response from the Gulf monarchies and further undermining a fragile truce.

Leaders from across the European Union and the Balkans gathered in Montenegro on Friday to discuss expanding the bloc to include countries in the region, seen as a key area in countering security and economic threats posed by Russia and China.

The EU-Western Balkans summit, being held in the Adriatic Sea coastal town of Tivat, brings together EU leaders including President Emmanuel Macron of France and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as well as the heads of candidate countries in the Balkans.

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over his showcase economic forum in his hometown of St. Petersburg.

Speaking in response to a question from The Associated Press during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week, both countries announced Friday, in what will be his first visit in nearly seven years.

His trip will be the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reached out to Russia in recent years, notably by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine.

Russia fired hundreds of drones at Ukraine between late Thursday and early Friday, killing seven people and destroying a factory that produces milk for children.

A Russian drone strike on the food production facility near Ukraine's capital Kyiv killed four people early Friday, the region's governor said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that lines of communication with the United States were still open, but "no tangible progress" has been made in negotiations to end the Middle East war.

"Communications with the Americans have not been cut off, and messages have been exchanged regarding the need to stop aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process," the Tasnim news agency quoted him as telling Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV.