Shortly after Washington announced the discharge of some two hundred local officials serving on its diplomatic missions in Russia, the Russian Ambassador to the United States reported that Washington had ordered 24 Russian diplomats to leave by September 3, and the two steps were part of a series of actions by the two countries following the crisis in US-Russian relations.

Threatening that his country "knows" how to respond, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared that there was "evidence" that Iran was involved in the attack on an Israeli - operated oil tanker in the Arabian Sea days ago.

The Egyptian presidency announced that President Abdel Fattah al - Sisi had agreed with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtan Lamamra to fully support Tunisian President Saeed in Tunisia & apos political crisis.

Stressing that "nuclear talks" with it "will not last forever," US Secretary of State Anthony Plinkin said the US is determined that Iran will not acquire nuclear weapons.