China, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills Tuesday in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran's rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen's Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships.

The joint drills, called the Maritime Security Belt 2025, took place in the Gulf of Oman near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude oil traded worldwide passes. The area around the strait in the past has seen Iran seize commercial ships and launch suspected attacks in the time since President Donald Trump first unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

The Kremlin said Wednesday it was waiting for the U.S. to inform it about the details of a proposed ceasefire in Ukraine that Kyiv agreed to after talks in Saudi Arabia.

"We assume that Secretary of State (Marco) Rubio and Advisor (Michael) Walz through various channels in the coming days will inform us on the negotiations that took place and the understandings reached," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding Moscow did not rule out a "high-level" phone call with the US.

Iran confirmed Wednesday it will hold talks this week with China and Russia on its nuclear program, after Beijing announced it would host the meeting.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement the three-way talks on Friday would focus on "developments related to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions".

Iran's top diplomat said Wednesday an Arab country will soon deliver it a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called for striking a nuclear deal with the Islamic republic.

"The letter has not reached us yet but an envoy from an Arab country is set to deliver it soon in Tehran," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Russia has taken back control of five villages previously occupied by Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region, its defense ministry said Wednesday.

The ministry said its army units had "liberated the settlements of Kazachya Loknya, 1st Knyazhy, 2nd Knyazhy, Zamostye and Mirny" in the Kursk region.

Polls opened in Greenland for early parliamentary elections Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks control of the strategic Arctic island.

The self-governing region of Denmark is home to 56,000 people, most from Indigenous Inuit backgrounds, and occupies a strategic North Atlantic location. It also contains rare earth minerals key to driving the global economy.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Trump administration has finished its six-week purge of programs of the six-decade-old U.S. Agency for International Development, cutting 83% of them, and said he would move the remaining aid programs under the State Department.

Meanwhile, Republicans face a critical test of their unity when a spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown and keep federal agencies funded through September comes up for a vote. Speaker Mike Johnson is teeing up the bill for a vote as soon as Tuesday despite the lack of buy-in from Democrats, essentially daring them to oppose it and risk a shutdown that would begin Saturday if lawmakers fail to act.

The arrest of a Palestinian activist who helped organize campus protests of the war in Gaza has sparked questions about whether foreign students and green card holders are protected against being deported from the U.S.

Mahmoud Khalil was arrested Saturday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Homeland Security officials and President Donald Trump have indicated that the arrest was directly tied to his role in the protests last spring at Columbia University in New York City.

Ukrainian drones smashed into high-rise apartment blocks on the outskirts of Moscow in the early hours of Tuesday, with both sides saying it was the largest attack on the Russian capital of the three-year conflict.

The Kremlin condemned the attack, which comes just hours before top US and Ukrainian officials sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia and after three years of Russian aerial barrages on Ukrainian cities.

High-stakes talks between senior delegations from Ukraine and the United States on how to end Kyiv's three-year war with Moscow opened in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, hours after Russian air defenses shot down 337 Ukrainian drones over 10 regions in Russia.

Two people were killed and 18 were injured in the massive drone attack, including three children, officials said. No large-scale damage was reported.