Global stock markets rallied and oil prices tumbled Monday as the United States and Iran paused tit-for-tat strikes, at the start of a week packed with corporate earnings and central bank decisions.

The Saudi defence ministry said it intercepted several drones launched by pro-Iran groups in Iraq on Monday, while the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen also claimed attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure.

Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official who survived an Israeli raid on Qatar in September last year and who is seen as having good ties with Iran, was named on Monday as the overall leader of the Palestinian group.

Former US counterterrorism chief Joe Kent has called on Washington to withdraw its forces from the Middle East and abandon its bases,

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims that it destroyed a depot housing US unmanned surface vessels and the “main artificial intelligence center” in Bahrain, in retaliation for US strikes on Iranian bridges and other civilian infrastructure.

Iran said it launched fresh attacks on US facilities in the Gulf on Friday after ​a sixth consecutive night of US strikes on Iranian military facilities, as last month's truce descended into daily attacks and counterattacks.

Crowds thronged the streets of Najaf and Karbala on Wednesday as the coffin of Iran's martyred Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei moved through the holy city in a procession devoted to Iraq.

Israel will keep its troops in occupied areas of Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria indefinitely, Defense Minister Israel Katz has said, describing the policy as necessary for “defending the borders.”

Israel's former army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot on Tuesday announced the start of his electoral campaign as he bids to take over the seat of prime minister from veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Iran's foreign ministry said it had held on Monday the first meeting with Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz since Tehran and Washington signed their preliminary deal to end the Middle East war.

Iran has agreed to set up a ‘hotline’ with the US and other countries to “prevent and resolve any misunderstandings” involving ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has said.

Israeli officials feel sidelined by the emerging US-Iran peace deal and are furious with what they believe amounts to a “catastrophe” that fails the objectives set prior to the war, according to a report by the Israeli outlet Ynet.