Iran's judiciary said that its chief held a rare meeting with the country's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public since being appointed.

Mojtaba was chosen in March to succeed his father and longtime ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes in central Tehran alongside senior military commanders at the start of the Middle East war, and was said to have been injured in the same attack.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that many Iranians were struggling to put food on the table, as the economic pressure from the Middle East war with the United States mounts.

They will not govern Israel, but Arab-majority lists could be the kingmakers in Israel's close-fought elections next week, guided by a voter base fed up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The United States appears to be preparing to resume large-scale strikes against Iran, but there is unlikely to be a military solution for either side in the devastating conflict, experts say.

The United States could strike Iran as soon as this weekend, a U.S. envoy said, after mounting threats by both Washington and Israel.

Iran has "substantially increased" its efforts to target Americans in the Middle East and beyond, U.S. national intelligence chief Jay Clayton has warned.

Iran said on Saturday that U.S. military ships would never be allowed to enter the Gulf "under any circumstances" and President Donald Trump will "take that dream to his grave".

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week, Iranian media reported.

Clashes between protesters and police erupted in two Tunisian towns after the deaths of men in incidents locals say involved security forces, media reported Friday.

At least seven people were killed in a shooting inside a church in Karak governorate in southern Jordan, a security source told state TV on Friday.

The source told the official Al-Mamlaka broadcaster that "at least seven people died in the shooting at Hammoud Church in Karak, while about 10 others were wounded, some of them critically" when two unidentified gunmen opened fire inside the church, according to authorities.