The United States on Thursday said it welcomed an announcement by a Saudi-led coalition to keep the Hodeidah port in Yemen open for a month and allow humanitarian aid to flow through, and condemned a Houthi bombing of a palace in Saudi Arabia.

The United States has warned Saudi Arabia that concern in Congress over the humanitarian situation in Yemen could constrain U.S. assistance, as it pushed Riyadh to allow greater access for humanitarian aid, a U.S. official said on Friday.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged Saudi Arabia to take a more cautious approach to regional conflicts Friday amid growing concern over Riyadh's involvement in Yemen, Qatar and Lebanon.

Iraq's senior shi‘ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani condemned on Thursday U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. '‘This decision is condemned and decried, it hurt the feelings of hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims,‘' said a statement from Sistani's office.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Saudi Arabia to ease its blockade of Yemen, two sources said, just days before the Saudi-led military coalition announced on Wednesday it would let aid flow through the Yemeni port of Hodeidah and allow U.N. flights to the capital.

Saudi Arabia has agreed to buy about $7 billion worth of precision guided munitions from U.S. defense contractors, sources familiar with the matter said, a deal that some lawmakers may object to over American weapons having contributed to civilian deaths in the Saudi campaign in Yemen.

The U.S. State Department has approved a possible $1.1 billion sale of support services and facilities to Qatar for its F-15QA fighter aircraft program, a Pentagon agency said on Wednesday.

Iran has no need to increase the range of its ballistic missiles as they could already reach U.S. forces stationed in the region, the head of the Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday.

Qatar has agreed to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States to crack down on illicit financing of militant groups, a joint Qatari-U.S. statement said on Monday following a visit by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi defended the role of an Iranian-backed paramilitary force at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday in Baghdad.

The U.S. State Department on Friday urged the Baghdad government to avoid clashes in northern Iraq by limiting the movement of federal troops in disputed areas to those coordinated with the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said that the Director of the Office of International Labour Affairs at the US Department of State, Steve Moody, arrived in Bahrain, along with the US Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Angelo Maestas.

Iran told the United States on Tuesday that it will keep “all options on table” if President Donald Trump designates its elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.

The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale of a THAAD anti-missile defence system to Saudi Arabia at an estimated cost of $15 billion, the Pentagon said on Friday, citing Iran among regional threats.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said that the US secretary of defense James Mattis will take part in the Manama Dialogue that one of its main sessions was specified to discuss the role of US policy in the stability of the Middle East region.

Iran may abandon the nuclear deal it reached with six major powers if the United States decides to withdraw from it, Iranian foreign minister told Qatar's al Jazeera TV in New York.

Commander of the Royal Guard, Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, received a delegation from the US Central Command Special Operations Forces in the presence of his brother, the Commander of the Royal Guard Special Force, Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

The top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday Iran was complying with the pact curbing its nuclear program and warned that any American decision to walk away from it would make other nations less likely to enter into agreements with the United States.

Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Chief of Staff Dhiab bin Saqr Al-Nuaimi received yesterday US Military Attaché to Bahrain, Colonel Steve Vincent.

The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) received a delegation from the US Congress on a visit to Bahrain, in the presence of NIHR's Vice President Abdullah Al-Durazi, Head of Economic, Societal and Cultural Rights Committee Maria Khoury and Acting Secretary-General Khalifa Al-Fahdel.