JEDDAH: US President Joe Biden will sign an agreement with Israel this week pledging that both countries will use “all elements of national power” to ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, Israeli officials said on Tuesday.

The declaration of a joint stance against Iran’s nuclear program and regional aggression will be the centerpiece of Biden’s visit to Israel this week, after which he will travel to Saudi Arabia.

MUSCAT: Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of Oman will pay an official visit to Germany beginning on Wednesday, the Oman News Agency reported.

LONDON: US President Joe Biden will refrain from shaking hands during his upcoming visit to Israel, the White House has told the office of Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

According to a Jerusalem Post report, the decision was made, in part, due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the US and in Israel.

WASHINGTON: A man US officials called the leader of Daesh in Syria was killed Tuesday in a drone strike, the Pentagon said.
Maher Al-Agal was killed while riding a motorcycle near Jindires in northern Syria, and one of his top aides was “seriously injured,” Pentagon Central Command spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn told AFP.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed Agal was killed in a drone strike.

LONDON: The organizers of the Cannes Film Festival have condemned the arrest of Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Al-Ahmad and Jafar Panahi and called for their immediate release.

Rasoulof and Al-Ahmad were taken into custody on Friday after protesting on social media against violent crackdowns on Iranian civilians. Panahi was held on Monday after he went to the prosecutor’s office to follow up on the arrest of Rasoulof. They are being detained at an undisclosed location.