Europe must step up efforts on defense and play a bigger role in NATO as U.S. President Donald Trump has "shaken the transatlantic relationship to its foundation", EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Wednesday.

"Let me be clear: we want strong transatlantic ties. The US will remain Europe's partner and ally. But Europe needs to adapt to the new realities. Europe is no longer Washington's primary centre of gravity," Kallas told a defence conference in Brussels.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during a call on Tuesday that the Gulf monarchy would not allow attacks on Iran to be launched from its soil.

Prince Mohammed "affirmed during the call the kingdom's position on respecting the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and that the Kingdom will not allow its airspace or its territory to be used for any military actions against" Iran, Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

A U.S. naval strike force led by an aircraft carrier was in Middle Eastern waters on Tuesday as Iran vowed to hit back against any strike and President Donald Trump said he believed the Islamic republic still wanted talks.

Washington has not ruled out new military intervention against Tehran over its crackdown on protests, which according to rights groups saw thousands of people killed within days.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is heading to China, seeking a thaw in relations with Beijing at a time of strained ties with the United States.

He's hoping for an economic boost to Britain, but risks the wrath of China hawks at home — and of U.S. President Donald Trump, who's already heaping tariffs and criticism on America's closest allies.

North Korea launched short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Tuesday, according to its neighbors, as the North heightens animosities with rival South Korea ahead of a major political meeting.

South Korea's military said it detected liftoffs of several ballistic missiles from an area northeast of the North Korean capital Pyongyang before the missiles each flew about 350 kilometers (217 miles).

China promised on Tuesday to provide Cuba with "support and assistance" in the face of repeated threats from the United State, which weeks ago removed Havana's ally in Venezuela Nicolas Maduro.

Beijing and Havana are longtime socialist allies, and Chinese authorities have consistently opposed the economic blockade imposed on the island for decades by the United States.

Iran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests killed at least 6,126 people while many others still are feared dead, activists said Tuesday, as a U.S. aircraft carrier group arrived in the Mideast to lead any American military response to the crisis.

The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and guided missile destroyers accompanying it provide the U.S. the ability to strike Iran, particularly as Gulf Arab states have signaled they want to stay out of any attack despite hosting American military personnel.

Russian forces killed six people and wounded dozens of others, including two children and a pregnant woman, in attacks on Ukraine's energy facilities, Kyiv announced Tuesday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the latest bombardment undermined peace efforts and urged allies to step up pressure on Moscow to end the war, which is grinding towards its fourth anniversary.

The United Arab Emirates will not allow attacks on Iran to be launched from its territory, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Last week, President Donald Trump said a U.S. "armada" was heading toward the Gulf and that Washington was watching Iran closely after a bloody crackdown on protesters.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Monday denounced Russia's "stubborn insistence on the crucial territorial issue" following talks between Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. envoys last week in Abu Dhabi.

"What I am hearing and reading today, including from the negotiations in the United Arab Emirates, is only Russia's stubborn insistence on the crucial territorial issue," Wadephul said in Riga. "And if there is no flexibility here, I fear that the negotiations may still take a long time or may not be successful at this stage."