The parliament in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region elected a speaker on Wednesday, more than two years after elections were held, with the chamber still riven by party divisions.

Israel's president on Wednesday urged political leaders to compromise in forming a government after an election he said had no clear winner and condemned "racist" rhetoric against Arab parties.

Iranian officials on Wednesday celebrated U.S. voters' rebuke of the Republican Party and President Donald Trump in the midterm elections, as the region waited to see how the results could affect the Iran war.

Concerns about the war's effects, particularly frustration over rising prices for fuel and other goods in the U.S., helped Democrats win control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday's vote.

Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Wednesday that anyone expecting a shift in U.S. policy was "seriously mistaken", hours after midterm elections dealt a blow to President Donald Trump.

"Those who still harbor even the slightest hope that the behavior of the hegemonic system might change through partisan or factional shifts, or who imagine that making concessions to the United States can dissuade it from hostility towards the Iranian nation, are seriously mistaken," Khamenei said in a written statement published on his website.

Israel's election commission said Wednesday it has found no fraud in last week's vote, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempts to discredit the results.

Netanyahu and his supporters have repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that Arab-led parties had "stolen" the election, possibly with foreign assistance.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. will stop providing $4 billion in aid each year to Israel in 2027 but will sell arms to its closest ally in the Middle East.

The Republican president told Fox News Channel during a phone call on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approached him about the idea and that they have been talking about it for a couple years.

Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Tuesday that Tehran reserved the right to self-defense following U.S. attacks on Qeshm island in the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran retains the right to legitimate self-defense until the military aggression has been completely and permanently brought to an end," Gharibabadi said according to Iran's ISNA news agency.

Qatar said on Tuesday it remained hopeful that an interim deal could be reached between the United States and Iran as both sides review proposals put forward by mediators including Doha.

In recent days, diplomatic efforts have been underway to prevent renewed fighting after the United States threatened major new strikes -- though U.S. President Donald Trump signaled diplomatic progress with Iran.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had no involvement in reported U.S. strikes on an Iranian island, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent threats to resume war with Tehran.

Asked if Israel was involved in secret attacks reported by U.S. media outlets on Qeshm Island, which lies in the Strait of Hormuz, an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP, "No".

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said it had intercepted a drone in the region of Mecca, Islam's holiest city, following repeated waves of attacks by the pro-Iran militants on the kingdom.

"Interception and destruction of a drone in the Mecca region," Turki al-Malki, the coalition's spokesman wrote on social media, without elaborating on the source of the attack.