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Iran Welcomes 'Positive' 5th Round of Talks with Saudi Arabia

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh. (Reuters)
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh. (Reuters)
    Baghdad, London - Fadhel al-Nashmi and Asharq Al-Awsat
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Iran Welcomes 'Positive' 5th Round of Talks with Saudi Arabia

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh. (Reuters)
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh. (Reuters)

Iran said the latest round of talks with Saudi Arabia was "positive and serious."

"The fifth round of talks between Saudi Arabia and Tehran were held in Iraq, and the talks were progressive and positive," spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference.

However, he noted that a meeting for their foreign ministers is not yet on the cards.

An Iraqi government official had previously confirmed that Riyadh and Tehran held the fifth round of talks to improve the severed ties between the two countries.

Khatibzadeh said that the officials agreed to hold a subsequent round of negotiations without specifying a date.

Agence-France Presse (AFP) quoted Khatibzadeh saying that "if the negotiations are upgraded to a first-class political level, it can be expected that progress can be made swiftly in different sectors of the talks."

Riyadh has severed diplomatic relations with Tehran since January 2016 after the attack on the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital and its consulate in Mashhad.

Saudi Arabia rejects Iranian interference in the affairs of Arab countries, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen, and the development of its nuclear program.

During the past year, four dialogue rounds were held in Iraq, sponsored by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, aiming to improve ties.

The Iranian government, which is suffering from a stifling economic crisis due to US sanctions, pledged to end Tehran's regional isolation.

Iran's relations with the regional countries recently became an issue of public opinion in the country.

Nour News Agency, affiliated with Iran's Supreme National Security Council, expressed optimism about the talks held between high-level representatives and expected a joint meeting at the level of foreign ministers soon.

The official Iraqi newspaper Assabah quoted an unnamed Iranian source as saying that the latest round of talks set a roadmap for the meetings and relations between Riyadh and Tehran, which increases hopes of restoring the diplomatic ties soon.

The newspaper quoted an Iranian parliamentary spokesman as saying that improving relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran will positively impact the countries and peoples of the region on the political, cultural, and economic levels.

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World

China Warns Middle East at ‘Critical Juncture’ After Trump Extends Ceasefire

13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
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China Warns Middle East at ‘Critical Juncture’ After Trump Extends Ceasefire

13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)

China warned on Wednesday that the situation in the Middle East was at a "critical juncture" after US President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire to allow Iran more time to negotiate.

Trump indefinitely pushed back the end of the two-week truce on Tuesday with Tehran yet to respond but he said a US blockade of Iran's ports would continue.

"The current regional situation stands at a critical juncture transitioning between war and peace; the paramount priority remains to make every effort to prevent a resumption of hostilities," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news briefing.

Guo did not comment directly on the ceasefire when asked about it, adding only that Beijing would continue to play a "constructive" role.

World

Extreme Heat Threatens Global Food Systems, UN Agencies Warn

Emmanuel, a worker at the Fasoranti farm, harvests cocoa pods in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, 20 April 2026. (EPA)
Emmanuel, a worker at the Fasoranti farm, harvests cocoa pods in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, 20 April 2026. (EPA)
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Extreme Heat Threatens Global Food Systems, UN Agencies Warn

Emmanuel, a worker at the Fasoranti farm, harvests cocoa pods in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, 20 April 2026. (EPA)
Emmanuel, a worker at the Fasoranti farm, harvests cocoa pods in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, 20 April 2026. (EPA)

Extreme heat is pushing global agrifood systems to the brink, threatening the livelihoods and health of more than a billion people, according to a new report by the UN's food and weather agencies.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said heatwaves are becoming more frequent, intense and prolonged, damaging crops, livestock, fisheries and forests.

"Extreme heat is rewriting the script on what farmers, fishers and foresters can grow and when they can grow. In some cases it is even dictating if they can still work," said Kaveh Zahedi, ‌head of ‌FAO's climate change office.

"At its core, this report ‌is ⁠telling us that ⁠we face a very uncertain future," he told Reuters.

Recent climate datasets show global warming is accelerating, with 2025 ranking among the three hottest years on record, triggering more frequent and severe weather extremes.

Acting as a risk multiplier, extreme heat intensifies droughts, wildfires and pest outbreaks and sharply cuts crop yields once critical temperature thresholds are breached.

RISKS ESCALATE RAPIDLY AS TEMPERATURES PUSH HIGHER

The report said higher temperatures ⁠are shrinking the safety margin that plants, animals and ‌humans rely on to function, with yields for ‌most major crops falling once temperatures exceed about 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

Zahedi cited ‌Morocco, where six years of drought were followed by record heatwaves. "This led ‌to a fall in cereal yields by over 40%. It decimated the olive and citrus harvest. Basically, those harvests failed," he said.

Marine heatwaves are also becoming more frequent, depleting oxygen levels in water and threatening fish stocks. In 2024, 91% of the world's ‌oceans experienced at least one marine heatwave, the report said.

Risks rise sharply as warming accelerates. The intensity of extreme ⁠heat events is ⁠expected to roughly double at 2 degrees Celsius of warming and quadruple at 3 degrees, compared with 1.5 degrees, the report said.

Zahedi said every one-degree rise in average global temperatures cuts yields of the world's four major crops - maize, rice, soya, and wheat - by about 6%.

The FAO and WMO said piecemeal responses were inadequate and called for better risk governance and early-warning weather systems to help farmers and fishers take preventive action.

"If you can get the data into the farmers' hands, they can adjust when they plant, they can adjust what they plant, they can adjust when they harvest," Zahedi said.

But the report said adaptation alone is not enough, arguing the only lasting solution to the growing threat of extreme heat is ambitious, coordinated action to curb climate change.

World

Russian Drones Strike Ukraine’s Odesa Port, Kill Railway Worker in South, Deputy PM Says

Rescuers work at the site of a Russian drone strike as port infrastructure was hit, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine April 22, 2026. (Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Odesa region/Handout via Reuters)
Rescuers work at the site of a Russian drone strike as port infrastructure was hit, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine April 22, 2026. (Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Odesa region/Handout via Reuters)
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Russian Drones Strike Ukraine’s Odesa Port, Kill Railway Worker in South, Deputy PM Says

Rescuers work at the site of a Russian drone strike as port infrastructure was hit, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine April 22, 2026. (Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Odesa region/Handout via Reuters)
Rescuers work at the site of a Russian drone strike as port infrastructure was hit, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine April 22, 2026. (Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Odesa region/Handout via Reuters)

Russian drones attacked infrastructure in Ukraine's Black Sea Odesa port overnight, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Wednesday.

Berths, warehouses, railway infrastructure and port operators' facilities were damaged in the assault, Kuleba ‌wrote on Telegram.

The ‌hold of a ‌cargo ⁠ship was also ⁠hit, causing a fire Ukraine's seaports authority said.

According to preliminary information no one was hurt in the attack, and the port was still ⁠operating, the authority said ‌on Telegram.

Russia has ‌repeatedly targeted maritime export routes ‌more than four years after its ‌invasion of Ukraine, striking ports vital to foreign trade and the wartime economy.

Kuleba said a Russian ‌drone attack at a sorting yard at the Zaporizhzhia-Live ⁠station ⁠in the southern Zaporizhzhia region killed an assistant train driver. The train driver was hospitalized, he added.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 215 drones at the country since 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Tuesday, and 189 had been downed or neutralized.