U.S. President Donald Trump will bask in the spotlight at the World Cup final on Sunday -- after already providing one of the tournament's most controversial moments.

The United States said airstrikes on Sunday aimed to "punish" Iran over the first U.S. military deaths since renewed hostilities with the Islamic republic.

Iran rapidly announced its own retaliation, saying two U.S. bases in Kuwait were targeted in response to more than a week of intensifying attacks -- which Tehran said included strikes on an airport, a railway station and bridges.

Hostilities in the Middle East intensified on Saturday after a seventh straight night of U.S. attacks on Iran, with Tehran threatening a "full-scale offensive" in response and the strategic Strait of Hormuz remaining virtually closed.

Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight killed at least four civilians and wounded 20 other people, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as he faces a political crisis after firing his popular defense minister.

Zelensky's major reshuffle of his government on Thursday, which included the appointment of a new prime minister, unsettled the country's military leadership and trigged a public outcry. It was an unwelcome difficulty after Ukraine has gained traction in its fight against Russia's more than 4-year-old invasion.

Deadly U.S. strikes overnight hit an airport, a railway station in the port city of Bandar Abbas and two bridges in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media said Friday.

Pakistan said on Thursday it would encourage the United States and Iran to stop violence and resume talks under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) it helped mediate last month.

The United Nations atomic agency's head has denounced the killing of the chief engineer of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in a drone strike Moscow has blamed on Kyiv.

Tehran on Thursday accused the United States of carrying out a "barbaric attack" after a cancer hospital in Iran's southwest was forced to evacuate due to nearby strikes.

Ukraine's ousted defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov on Thursday accused commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky of trying to divide the war-torn country, detailing a feud between the pair that led to his removal and triggered protests supporting him.

Ukraine's parliament on Thursday approved Serhii Koretskyi, the head of state energy company Naftogaz, as the country's new prime minister, as part of a major government reshuffle initiated by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky nominated Koretskyi, citing his record in the energy sector and arguing that he was best placed to help prepare Ukraine for another wartime winter. He was voted in with 289 votes in favor.