Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Sunday that Iran's neighbors around the Gulf would take measures to strengthen their own security if Iran were to obtain a nuclear weapon.
The big picture: Talks to revive the 2015 Iran deal have stalled in recent months, with U.S. envoy for Iran Rob Malley admitting in October that the talks were not the Biden administration's "focus right now."
The U.S. is still "negotiating" for the release of detained American Paul Whelan, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
Driving the news: Kirby said that the U.S. made a "very serious, specific proposal made to the Russians" to secure the release of Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner together, but "it just didn't land anywhere ... with the Russians."
U.S. Central Command forces killed two ISIS officials, including a Syrian province official, in a helicopter raid on Sunday morning.
Driving the news: The raid, which took place in eastern Syria at 2:57am local time, killed ISIS Syria province official Anas, who was involved in plotting and running deadly terrorist attacks in the area, per a press release.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Saudi Arabia this week was a result of "bad American policy," former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told "Fox News Sunday."
Driving the news: Xi's four-day visit to Saudi Arabia included three summits with several Arab leaders and came at a time of heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Biden administration, primarily over oil production in recent months.
A Libyan man suspected of making a bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 and killed 270 people, including 190 Americans, was taken into U.S. custody on Sunday, AP reports.
Why it matters: Abu Agela Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi was taken into U.S. custody roughly two years after the U.S. announced charges against him, alleging that new evidence indicated Mas’ud had created the explosive device.
Ukraine struck the southern Russian-occupied city of Melitopol on Saturday, according to Ukrainian and Russian-backed officials.
Why it matters: Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, said on social media 200 Russians were killed or injured, while Russia's installed regional governor, Yevgeny Balitsky, said two died and 10 were injured in the attack.
China is setting up new intensive care facilities in response to rising COVID-19 cases, AP reports.
Driving the news: Some Chinese cities, including Beijing, are facing outbreaks, which has forced some businesses to close due to infected workers, Reuters reports.
Russian Nobel Peace laureate Yan Rachinsky called Russia's war on Ukraine "insane and criminal" in his acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway, on Saturday, CNN reports.
Why it matters: Human rights groups from Russia and Ukraine accepted the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize over the weekend for their work to document war crimes and abuse of power.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address that Russian forces "destroyed" the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, leaving it in "burnt ruins," the Associated Press reports.
Why it matters: The destruction of Bakhmut, which is located in the Donbas region, comes as the war between Russia and Ukraine has focused on four regions annexed by Russia in September.
