- US 'quagmire' -

The United States "is looking for a face-saving way to escape the war quagmire it has become trapped in", a spokesman for Iran's defence ministry said.

The comment, reported by Iran's ISNA media outlet, came as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner headed to Pakistan, where Iran's foreign minister was.

The White House said the two would have "talks" with Iranian representatives. But Iranian state media said that direct negotiations were not in the cards.

- Iran execution -

Iran extended its long series of executions carried out during the war with the capital punishment of a man its judiciary said had carried out a "mission" on behalf of Israel's spy agency during mass protests in January.

- Kuwait frees journalist -

An American-Kuwaiti journalist has been released after being held for weeks in Kuwait during a crackdown on sharing footage of the US-Iran war, a US State Department official said.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, who has contributed to The New York Times, PBS, and Al Jazeera English, was arrested on March 3 for allegedly spreading false information, harming national security and misusing his mobile phone.

- US freezes crypto -

The United States has frozen $344 million in cryptocurrency assets over ties to Iran, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says, as Washington seeks to raise pressure on Tehran amid energy supply disruptions due to the war.

- Six killed in Lebanon -

Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed six people Friday, the Lebanese health ministry said, despite an ongoing ceasefire in the more than six-week war between Israel and Hezbollah.

"The Israeli enemy's airstrikes on southern Lebanon today, April 24, resulted in the martyrdom of six citizens and the injury of two others," the ministry said in a statement.

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