Middle East | featured news

President Barack Obama says he isn't bluffing when he says Iran shouldn't have a nuclear weapon, but he cautions against a premature Israeli strike against the Islamic republic.

Iranians head to the polls Friday in a parliamentary election marking the first nationwide balloting since a disputed vote triggered massive protests nearly three years ago.

The U.N. is deploring the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria and calling on authorities to grant "unhindered access" for aid workers.

Growing concerns over Iran’s nuclear facilities may prove to be all for naught. Officials from the global intelligence company Stratfor allegedly discussed that Israel may have already destroyed the Iranian nuclear facility, according to one of the emails released by Wikileaks Monday.

Israeli officials say they won't warn the U.S. if they decide to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, according to one U.S. intelligence official familiar with the discussions.

Syrian artillery pounded rebel-held areas of Homs as President Bashar al-Assad's government announced that voters had overwhelmingly approved a new constitution in a referendum derided as a sham by his critics at home and abroad.

At least 89 people in Syria have been killed nationwide on the eve of a constitutional referendum.

Local residents say Pakistan has started to demolish the compound in the northwest city of Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden lived for years and was killed by U.S. commandos last May.

Iran has yet to give an explanation over a small quantity of missing uranium metal from a research site, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report that voiced concern over possible military links to Tehran's nuclear program.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is weighing the circumstances that could warrant tapping the nation's strategic oil reserve, aware that supply disruptions from Iran could harm the global economy, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday.