An Iraqi army brigadier general and a warrant officer were killed on Wednesday when a remnant explosive device exploded in Wadi Zghaitun, Kirkuk province, as troops inspected the site of airstrikes carried out a day earlier, Iraq’s Defense Ministry said.

Five schools offering Kurdish-language education are set to open in Syria's central Hama province, with similar requests made for the southern province of Daraa, senior Kurdish politician Elham Ahmed told Rudaw, as Kurdish leaders seek to secure constitutional recognition of their language and expand education beyond northeast Syria (Rojava).

Iran executed Ali-Sina Mostafavi, a musician and professional mountaineer from the southeastern province of Kerman, on Wednesday after convicting him of alleged armed attacks, according to the judiciary, a day after a rights group warned that his execution was imminent.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to deliver Iran a heavy blow, as reports emerged that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed the possibility of renewed military strikes against Tehran ahead of elections in both countries.

Iran on Tuesday summoned the British ambassador to Tehran over what it deemed “baseless” allegations linking Tehran to an incident at the RAF Fairford military base and demanding evidence supporting the accusations or Iran would “seriously reconsider” bilateral relations, state media reported.

A rights organization reported on Tuesday the killing of an Arab citizen in Iran by “direct fire” in the city of Ahvaz in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province following their vehicle’s pursuit, after which security forces transferred injured passengers to an undisclosed location.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Tuesday requested a parliamentary session later this week to vote on candidates for nine vacant ministries and deputy prime minister positions, nearly five months after his government received a vote of confidence.

Erbil expressed readiness to facilitate discussions between Kurds and the countries where they live in the Middle East, including in Iran, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said Tuesday, while affirming a history of consistent backing in past developments.

Turkey has spent $3 trillion trying to prevent Kurds from exercising their democratic rights, the co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) said Tuesday at the Middle East Research Institute (MERI) Forum in Erbil, calling for a democratic resolution to the Kurdish issue.

Iraq's Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday nullified a 2003 Kurdistan Region law criminalizing broadly defined acts against the Region’s internal and external security, sovereignty, and public authorities, citing violations of the the Iraqi constitution.