Iran on Wednesday deflated a rumor about it closing the Strait of Hormuz -- one of the world's most strategic transit points for oil -- by saying such a move was "not on the agenda."

But foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast reiterated Tehran's line hinting that the strait, a narrow stretch along Iran's Gulf shoreline, could be threatened if current rising tensions ever spilled over into war.

Iran held talks with Saudi Arabia to try to convince Riyadh it had nothing to do with unfounded U.S. claims of a plot to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington, Tehran said according to media on Wednesday.

Iran's intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, travelled to Saudi Arabia on Monday to clear up "misunderstandings" created by the U.S. allegations, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a report by ISNA news agency.

Tunisia's Hamadi Jebali, the number two in the moderate Islamist Ennahda party that won October elections, on Wednesday was tasked with forming the country's new government, the presidency said.

"The president of the Tunisian Republic Moncef Marzouki has decided to charge Hamadi Jebali with forming the government," the president's office said in a statement a day after Marzouki was official sworn in.

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah on Wednesday swore in the new cabinet with only minor changes to the government that resigned in November over allegations of corruption.

Sheikh Sabah urged Kuwaiti voters to abandon factional, sectarian and tribal allegiances while choosing representatives in an upcoming general election which he said would usher in a new era for the oil-rich Gulf state.

Army defectors killed at least eight Syrian troops Wednesday in an act of revenge after security forces shot dead five civilians, activists said, in the second such insurgent attack in as many days, as the Local Coordination Committees said regime troops killed 26 civilians on Wednesday.

The LCC, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces shot dead nine people in Homs, eight in Hama, three in Idlib, two in Damascus, two in Daraa, one in al-Qamishli and one in the Damascus suburb of al-Zabadani.

Multiple bomb attacks set oil pipelines ablaze in southern Iraq but exports were not affected, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said on Wednesday,.

"Around 9.00 pm (18:00 GMT Tuesday), several bombs damaged pipelines transporting oil from the Rumaila-south oil field to the Zubair-1 storage facility," Jihad told Agence France Presse, referring to sites in south Iraq.

Islamists who swept to victory in the first stage of Egypt's parliamentary elections were looking to extend their winning streak in a second round of voting on Wednesday.

Some 18.8 million Egyptians are eligible to cast their ballots in this round of the first legislative polls since a popular uprising ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-rule in February.

Israel on Wednesday reopened a controversial wooden access ramp to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound, just over 48 hours after it was closed on safety grounds in a move which had sparked Muslim anger.

"It was opened this morning," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse. "It has been opened as normal for visitors, both Christian and Jewish."

Unknown attackers on Wednesday tried to set fire to a disused mosque in Jerusalem and scrawled anti-Arab slogans on the walls in an apparent "price tag" vengeance attack, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

Slogans insulting the Prophet Mohammed and Arabs along with graffiti reading "price tag" were spray-painted on the exterior walls of the building in central Jerusalem.

Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Saturday to respond to Syria's proposal to admit observers in exchange for an end to regional sanctions, the Arab League said.

Mohammed Zaidi, an adviser to Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, said a ministerial task force on Syria would hold a preparatory meeting at the 22-member bloc's headquarters on Saturday, ahead of the emergency session.