German prosecutors said Thursday they had seized assets worth around 35 million euros ($42 million) as part of a money-laundering probe targeting Lebanon's former central bank governor Riad Salameh and four other people.

Salameh headed Lebanon's central bank between 1993 and 2023 and has faced numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in Lebanon and abroad.

Iran's army on Thursday added 1,000 drones to its combat regiments as its chief vowed a "crushing response" to any attack, state television reported, after the United States moved a strike force into regional waters.

"In accordance with the threats we are facing, maintaining and enhancing strategic advantages for rapid combat and a crushing response to any invasion... is always on the army's agenda," Iran's army commander Amir Hatami said, cited by state television.

The Kremlin said on Thursday there was still room for negotiations in the standoff between ally Tehran and Washington, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new military strikes on Iran.

"It is clear that the potential for negotiations is not exhausted," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, adding: "any use of force can only create chaos in the region and lead to very dangerous consequences."

Denmark's foreign minister said Thursday he was "more optimistic" after technical talks kicked off with the United States over Greenland.

"We have had the very first meeting at senior official level in Washington yesterday regarding the Greenlandic issue," Lars Lokke Rasmussen told journalists at an EU meeting in Brussels.

Turkey will offer to help resolve tensions between Washington and Tehran when Iran's top diplomat visits, a foreign ministry source said Thursday a day ahead of the visit.

"Turkey is ready to contribute to resolving the current tensions through dialogue," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was to tell his counterpart Abbas Araghchi when the pair meet on Friday, the source said.

Iran's foreign minister warned Wednesday its forces would respond immediately and forcefully to any U.S. military operation after President Donald Trump declared time was running out to avoid one, but did not rule out a new deal on Tehran's nuclear program.

The Islamic republic's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi warned its forces have their "fingers on the trigger" to "powerfully respond" to any U.S. strikes, but also used language strikingly similar to Trump's to describe a possible agreement to defuse the stand-off through a new nuclear deal.

Gold prices soared to a fresh record near $5,600 on Thursday, while oil rallied after Donald Trump ramped up geopolitical tensions with his threatened military strike on Iran.

The surge in safe-haven precious metals also saw silver hit another peak and has been helped by a softer dollar sparked by speculation that the U.S. president is happy to see the world's reserve currency weaken.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday warned Israel's enemies that they would pay a heavy price if they attacked, speaking at the funeral for the last hostage to be recovered from Gaza.

"We are determined to complete our missions: to disarm Hamas and demilitarize Gaza, and we will succeed. Let our enemies know that anyone who raises a hand against Israel will pay an exorbitant price," he told mourners attending the funeral of Ran Gvili, whose remains were returned to Israel this week.

Iraq's main candidate for the premiership, Nouri al-Maliki, on Wednesday denounced Washington's "blatant interference", after President Donald Trump warned that he would end all support to the country if Maliki took the post.

"We categorically reject the blatant American interference in Iraq's internal affairs," Maliki said on X, adding that "we consider it a violation" of Iraq's "democratic system" after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of its military bases in the country.

Putin and Sharaa struck a conciliatory tone at their previous meeting in October, their first since Sharaa's rebel forces toppled Moscow-ally Bashar al-Assad in 2024.