4:30 p.m.
The German government has expressed concern about the tensions in the Mideast between the U.S. and Iran, warning of a military escalation and saying it supports all measures for a peaceful solution.
Chancellor Angela Merkels spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said on Wednesday that, obviously, we are watching the increasing tensions in the region with big concern and welcome any measure that is aimed at a peaceful solution.
Demmer added that the government condemns all acts that escalate the situation in the region further.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr said despite the tension, the German government has not reduced its staff at the embassies in Iraq and Iran.
Earlier Wednesday, Germanys military said it suspended training of Iraqi soldiers due to the tensions, though there was no indication of any specific threat to its own troops in Iraq.
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3:35 p.m.
The German government says the countrys military has suspended training of Iraqi soldiers due to tensions in the region between the U.S. and Iran but has no indication of any specific threat to its own troops.
The announcement came shortly after the U.S. State Department on Wednesday ordered all non-essential government staff to leave Iraq right away amid escalating tensions with Iran.
German Defense Ministry spokesman Jens Flosdorff says that Germany is orienting itself toward our partner countries, which have taken this step.
But he stressed that there is no concrete threat and the decision is down to the security situation in general being viewed as more tense.
Germany currently has about 160 German soldiers in Iraq as part of the fight against the Islamic State group, about 60 of them at a base north of Baghdad where Iraqi forces are being trained.
Flosdorff said that training could in principle resume within days.
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2:20 p.m.
The Kremlins spokesman says U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo didnt offer President Vladimir Putin any reassurances or ease Moscows concerns over the ongoing crisis between the United States and Iran.
Pompeo met with Putin on Tuesday in Russias resort of Sochi where he sought to alleviate some of the concerns about the spiraling tensions but made clear the U.S. would respond to any attacks on American targets.
Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that Moscow is concerned over mounting tensions and defended Irans actions as a legitimate response to the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal.
Iran has given European countries a 60-day deadline to negotiate a new nuclear deal Tehran or it would start enriching uranium to higher levels than outlined in the current agreement.
This item has been corrected to show that Pompeo and Putin met on Tuesday, not Monday;
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12: 15 p.m.
The U.S. Embassy in Iraq says the State Department has ordered all non-essential, non-emergency government staff to leave the country right away amid escalating tensions with Iran.
The alert, published on the embassys website on Wednesday, comes after Washington last week said it had detected new and urgent threats from Iran and its proxy forces in the region targeting Americans and American interests.
On Sunday, the embassy advised Americans to avoid travel to Iraq, citing heightened tensions.
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10:30 a.m.
Irans supreme leader claims that enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels would not be a difficult task for the country the latest threats from Tehran as tensions roil the region amid the unraveling of the nuclear deal.
State-owned IRAN daily quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as telling a group of officials during a meeting on Tuesday night that achieving 20 percent enrichment is the most difficult part. The next steps are easier than this step.
Iran recently threatened to resume higher enrichment in 60 days if no new nuclear deal is in place, beyond the 3.67% permitted by the current deal between Tehran and world powers. The Trump administration pulled America out of the deal last year.
Iranian officials have said that they could reach 20% enrichment within four days. Though Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, scientists say the time needed to reach the 90% threshold for weapons-grade uranium is halved once uranium is enriched to around 20%.
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10:10 a.m.
A satellite image obtained by The Associated Press shows one of the two pumping stations attacked by drones in Saudi Arabia apparently intact.
The image from San Francisco-based Planet Labs Inc. that the AP examined on Wednesday shows Saudi Aramcos Pumping Station No. 8 outside of the town of al-Duadmi. Its 330 kilometers, or 205 miles, west of the capital, Riyadh.
The photo, taken Tuesday after the attack claimed by Yemens Houthi rebels, shows two black marks near where Saudi Arabias East-West Pipeline passes by the facility. Those marks werent there in images taken Monday.
The facility otherwise appears intact.
The attack came as regional tensions flared, just days after what the kingdom called an attack on two of its oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
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