U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke Saturday with Iraqi leader Nouri al-Maliki, two days after government figures showed July was the war-battered country's deadliest month in more than five years.

Authorities have failed to stem a massive spike in violence that has killed more than 3,000 people since the beginning of the year, while Maliki's government has cracked down on protests against its rule.

Egypt's army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has lashed out at the United States, urging Washington to do more to pressure the Muslim Brotherhood to end its rallies.

In a rare interview with the Washington Post, the commander -- who led the military coup that ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi one month ago -- warned of police action to disperse such protests.

A top Iraqi army officer said he survived a bombing on Saturday that killed nine soldiers during an operation against al-Qaida militants in Diyala province north of Baghdad.

"I was targeted directly," Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir al-Zaidi told Agence France Presse by telephone.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday urged his Egyptian counterpart to support an "inclusive" political process in the wake of the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

Hagel spoke early Saturday with General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the head of Egypt's armed forces, which drove Morsi from power on July 3 amid massive protests against his year-long rule.

Hassan Rowhani, who officially took over as the Islamic republic's seventh president Saturday, is a reputed moderate who has vowed to engage with world powers in a bid to lift sanctions.

The 64-year-old cleric succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after receiving the formal endorsement of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

French President Francois Hollande said Saturday that France would close its embassy in Yemen over security fears for "several days", after Germany and Britain took the same precaution.

"We are informed directly and indirectly of threats concerning our installations overseas and even our nationals, threats coming from al-Qaida," Hollande said.

The global police agency Interpol on Saturday said it suspected al-Qaida was involved in recent jailbreaks across nine countries, including Iraq, Libya and Pakistan.

Interpol said in a statement that the jailbreaks "led to the escape of hundreds of terrorists and other criminals" in the past month alone and issued a security alert.

Libyan security forces on Saturday arrested two men for firing at a military patrol in Benghazi, a commander in Libya's special forces told Agence France Presse.

"Two individuals on board a vehicle opened fire on Saturday on a special forces unit stationed in Benghazi city center," Colonel Wanis Boukhamada said.

Moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani assumed Iran's presidency on Saturday promising to work to lift punishing international sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic over its controversial nuclear program.

Rowhani, 64, officially became the Islamic republic's seventh president after receiving a formal endorsement from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a Tehran ceremony.

Tunisia's army pressed ahead Saturday with operations against Islamists in a remote mountain range after a deadly ambush on its troops heightened a crisis sparked by a political assassination.

The authorities kept a tight lid on the overland and helicopter raids launched Friday in the Mount Chaambi area near the border with Algeria where Islamist militants including veterans of a revolt in northern Mali are suspected to be hiding out.