Iran and Saudi Arabia should be able to work together to help end conflicts in Syria and Yemen, after successfully cooperating over Lebanon last year, Iran's foreign minister said.

Iran and Saudi Arabia should be able to work together to help end conflicts in Syria and Yemen, after successfully cooperating over Lebanon last year, Iran's foreign minister said.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani called on Saudi Arabia to stop its “aggression” in Yemen and “interference” across the region, during a news conference in Tehran on Tuesday.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said that his country did not seek to cut relations with Saudi Arabia, it was the Saudis themselves who broke relations.

An Egyptian court rejected on Monday a government plan to transfer two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, in a final ruling that prompted cheers in the courtroom but could deepen tensions with the country's erstwhile financial backer.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia had arrested two rights activists in the first ten days of this year and accused Riyadh of a crackdown on dissent, Reuters reported.

The Middle East Eye website said that the British military “has provided training to a Saudi war crimes investigations unit headed by a Bahraini judge accused of sentencing peaceful protesters to lengthy jail terms, where they were often tortured.”

An Iranian official confirmed on Monday that Saudi Arabia had invited Tehran to discuss arrangements for the annual Muslim haj, which Iran boycotted last year after hundreds died in a crush at the 2015 pilgrimage.

Five Gulf states sent condolences on Monday for former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, signaling appreciation for a pragmatist who sought regional detente, but there was no immediate word from Riyadh, Tehran's main Gulf Arab adversary.

The Huffington Post published (Sunday January 8, 2017) an article entitled “Bahrain, The Unspoken Revolution that will Shake Gulf Monarchies”, with reference on the geopolitical status of Bahrain and its revolution.

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said in a report (January 5, 2016) that Bahraini activist Dr Saeed Al-Samahiji has been released after completing his one-year prison sentence.

Dozens of foreign workers have reportedly been sentenced to flogging and jail in Saudi Arabia for unrest which erupted after wages went unpaid by the Binladin Group, AFP reported.

More than 2,000 Saudis are fighting abroad with jihadist groups, with over 70 percent of them in Syria, the kingdom's interior ministry was reported as saying Monday.

Saudi Arabia should not be allowed to take part in the Syrian peace process, Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan told Russia's state-backed RT TV station in an interview, according to the RIA news agency on Tuesday.

Oman, which has traditionally resisted Gulf Arab states' efforts to close ranks against Iran, has joined a Saudi-led coalition of Muslim countries to fight terrorism, Saudi and Gulf sources said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa received a telephone call from the Governor of the Eastern Region in Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, congratulating him on the successful medical tests he underwent, according to Bahrain News Agency (BNA).

Saudi Crown Prince and Foreign Minister, Mohammad bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, phoned Bahraini Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman to check on his health, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The Saudi Embassy in Bahrain said that there will be a unified checkpoint between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on the King Fahd connected bridge a year from now.

The family of Bahraini citizen detained in Saudi Arabia, called on Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry to intervene in its son’s case, as he has been in custody for 10 months there, without knowing the reason behind his arrest.

A Kuwaiti appeals court overturned (Thursday December 22, 2016) a first instance verdict ruling the innocence of former Kuwaiti Member of Parliament, and prominent human rights activist, Dr. Abdulhameed Dashti.