With one American carrier strike group already in the Middle East and another apparently on its way as U.S. President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Iran to give up its nuclear program, fears are rising of the outbreak of another war that could spread into a regional conflict.

The 12-day Israel-Iran war last year appeared to cripple key elements of Iran's military, yet left its capabilities far from neutralized — a distinction that looms large as tensions rise again.

The United States Central Command said on Friday it had completed the transfer of detained Islamic State group suspects held in Syria to Iraq.

CENTCOM said it "completed a transfer mission following a nighttime flight from northeastern Syria to Iraq on Feb 12 to help ensure ISIS detainees remain secure in detention facilities."

Indonesia has begun training a contingent of up to 8,000 soldiers it plans to send as part of an international peacekeeping force to Gaza, the first firm commitment to a critical element of U.S. President Donald Trump's postwar reconstruction plan.

Indonesia has experience in peacekeeping operations as one of the top 10 contributors to United Nations missions, including in Lebanon, and has been deeply involved in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, including funding a hospital.

Britain's High Court ruled Friday that the government's decision to outlaw the protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful, but it kept the ban in place pending another hearing while the government prepares an appeal.

Judges Victoria Sharp, Jonathan Swift and Karen Steyn said "the nature and scale of Palestine Action's activities" did not meet the "level, scale and persistence" that would justify proscription.

Muneer Elbaz remembers the joy of visiting the Great Omari Mosque in Gaza with his family, praying at a site where people have worshipped over centuries as empires came and went.

"These were the best days," Elbaz said, as he recalled promenading through the lively markets around the mosque before the Israel-Hamas war. "This place transports us from one era to another."

The United States will send the world's largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East to back up another already there, a person familiar with the plans said Friday, putting more American firepower behind President Donald Trump's efforts to coerce Iran into a deal over its nuclear program.

The USS Gerald R. Ford's planned deployment to the Mideast comes after Trump only days earlier suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand. Those negotiations didn't materialize as one of Tehran's top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the U.S. intermediaries.

The death toll from a crackdown over Iran's nationwide protests last month has reached at least 7,002 people killed with many more still feared dead, activists said Thursday.

The slow rise in the number of dead from the demonstrations adds to the overall tensions facing Iran both inside the country and abroad as it tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program. A second round of talks remains up in the air as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed his case directly with U.S. President Donald Trump to intensify his demands on Tehran in the negotiations.

Syria's defense ministry said on Thursday that the army had taken control of the Al-Tanf base after the withdrawal of U.S. forces deployed there as part of the coalition against the Islamic State group.

"Through coordination between the Syrian and American sides," army units have taken control of the base "and have begun deploying along the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian" border nearby, a defense ministry statement said.

Most foreign families have fled northeast Syria's Al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State group fighters, since the departure of Kurdish forces who previously guarded it, humanitarian sources said Thursday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one source told AFP that "since last Saturday... there are no more than 20 families in the foreigners' annex", while a source from another humanitarian organization said the section was basically empty.

The speaker of Germany's lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the body told AFP.

Julia Kloeckner spent "about an hour in the part of Gaza controlled by Israeli army forces," parliament said in response to an AFP query, becoming the first German official to visit Gaza since Hamas' attack on Israel in October 2023 that sparked a war devastating the densely-populated coastal strip.