U.S. President Barack Obama and Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Tuesday discussed the "urgent" need to end fighting in Yemen, hours after Saudi-backed loyalists retook control of Aden airport.

After discussion about a recently inked nuclear deal with Iran, the White House said Obama and Salman "also spoke about the urgency of stopping the fighting in Yemen and the importance of ensuring that assistance can reach Yemenis on all sides of the conflict."

The deal announced by world powers Tuesday reining in Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief will only "embolden" Tehran and trigger an atomic weapons race, House Speaker John Boehner said.

"Instead of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, this deal is likely to fuel a nuclear arms race around the world," the Republican Boehner said in a statement, adding that U.S. lawmakers will "review every detail of this agreement very closely."

U.S. President Barack Obama lauded a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran as vindication of his diplomatic approach and a chance for a "new direction" in decades of vexed relations with Tehran.

Obama said the deal -- which would curb Iran's nuclear program in return for substantial international sanctions relief -- cut off "every pathway" to an Iranian atomic weapon.

When U.S. President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize early in his first term, he acknowledged the controversy surrounding his win by saying he was only at the beginning of his "labors on the world stage."

Nearly six years later, having secured a landmark nuclear deal with Iran, he has achieved a major diplomatic victory that staves off the threat of a military conflict with unforeseeable consequences in an unstable region.

Major powers clinched a historic deal Tuesday aimed at ensuring Iran does not obtain the nuclear bomb, opening up Tehran's stricken economy and potentially ending decades of bad blood with the West.

Reached on day 18 of marathon talks in Vienna, the accord is aimed at resolving a 13-year standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions after repeated diplomatic failures and threats of military action.

Tributes flowed Friday following the death of Saudi Arabia's Prince Saud al-Faisal, the world's longest-serving foreign minister, credited with facing down successive regional crises and forging strong ties with the West.

Prince Saud oversaw four decades of diplomacy for the world's biggest oil exporter before he retired in April for health reasons.

Five bloggers and journalists held in Ethiopia for more than a year have been freed after the charges were dropped, their lawyer said Thursday, weeks before U.S. President Barack Obama is due to visit the country.

In a separate case, journalist Reeyot Alemu, jailed in June 2011 after being found guilty of plotting a terrorist act, was released on Thursday, campaigners said.

President Barack Obama has tapped a career diplomat with extensive experience in global hot spots to head the sensitive post of ambassador to Libya.

If the nomination is approved, Peter Bodde will replace Deborah Jones, who succeeded Christopher Stevens, who was killed in a 2012 attack on an American mission in Benghazi, Libya.

President Barack Obama said Monday the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State jihadists was "intensifying" its campaign against the group's base in Syria, but cautioned the fight would be long.

Obama addressed the media after a briefing at the Pentagon with top military brass and members of his national security team on efforts to dismantle the jihadist group, which has taken over large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

U.S. President Barack Obama was to visit the Pentagon on Monday for an update on the campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

The briefing on U.S.-led efforts to dismantle the jihadist group follows coalition air strikes that hit its de facto capital Raqa in Syria over the weekend.