At least seven people were killed in Iraq on Thursday as US and Iraqi troops continued operations in Baghdad as part of the new security plan.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has supported Hamas strongman Mohammed Dahlan as his nation’s next deputy prime minister, a report said.

Iran’s Expediency Council Chairman and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday that his country would remove the current obstacles to talks with the United States if it shows good will to Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.