Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly.

Araghchi said the purpose of his visit was to “defend the righteousness, rights and interests of the Iranian people”.

“Every year we have used this opportunity to set out the rightful positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran — our well-known stances — and to defend the rights of the Iranian people,” he added.

Hundreds of thousands of Gaza children returned to in-person instruction on Saturday for the first time in nearly three years, gathering inside damaged buildings, makeshift structures, and tents despite severe shortages that have made basic pens, notebooks, and uniforms unaffordable.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that 98 percent of Gaza’s schools were destroyed or damaged during the war, leaving an estimated 660,000 students without regular, face-to-face education, according to local education officials.

G7 foreign ministers have called on Iran to end its arming ⁠and support of Houthis in Yemen, which they said constituted a dangerous pattern of escalation ⁠that ​risked undermining ⁠international trade and creating global instability.

“We condemn ⁠in the strongest terms ​the ⁠unacceptable continued strikes carried ‌out by the Houthis in Yemen and against the ‌Kingdom of Saudi ‌Arabia,” the ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan ⁠and the US said in a statement.

“We call on ‌the Houthis to immediately ​cease all military actions, ‌all threats ⁠and attacks against civilian ⁠shipping, and to return to the ‌political ​process in ‌good faith.”

Oil prices gained this morning as the market steadied after several days of declines, with investors awaiting developments on potential US-Iran talks at the United Nations General ​Assembly this week.

The Brent crude futures November contract gained 22 cents, or 0.22 per cent, ‌to $100.57 a barrel. The WTI October contract, which expires on Tuesday, crept up 2 cents, or 0.02 per cent, to $95.8 a barrel.

Houthi fighters pushed to seize strategic heights in Yemen to cut off the Red Sea coast ​from remaining areas held by Saudi-backed forces, after a report that US president Donald Trump had called off American strikes on the group at the last minute.

The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had prepared to launch airstrikes on Sunday against the Houthis after fresh pleas from the Saudi crown prince. But the newspaper said Trump called off the airstrikes at the last minute, even as troops were loading bombs onto aircraft.

Rashid al-Alimi, the Riyadh-based president of Yemen’s Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government, asked Trump by phone on Sunday for US ​military help, four sources told Reuters.

Riyadh was apparently struck on ⁠Saturday for the first time since the escalation began, with explosions heard and smoke visible near the airport. The Houthis said they had fired missiles at the Saudi capital; the Saudis have not commented.

Saudi Arabia’s airstrikes on the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha killed at least six people and wounded eight others, the Houthi-backed media reported this morning.

“Six civilians, including two children and a woman, were killed and eight others, including a child and a woman, were injured in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Mokha,” Saba news agency reported.

While the Iran war will feature prominently in the talks, the main focus of the 24 September meeting is on whether the leaders will signal an extension to a trade truce struck last year that averted a major shock to the global economy.

Hiring an oil supertanker to load in the Persian Gulf and transit the Strait of Hormuz cost as much as $1m a day earlier this month as the Iran war weighs on global shipping.

That figure, shared by maritime-intelligence firm Windward, is worth around a quarter of the current value of crude oil, and goes some way towards explaining its inflated price.

With Yemen’s Houthi rebels now squeezing the Bab el-Mandeb strait, prices are likely to continue to climb, with fewer alternative routes available to bypass Hormuz.

According to the Wall Street Journal, operators are now also constrained in by a shortage of oil tankers, slowing deliveries and compounding costs for consumers.

Adi Imsirovic, a former energy trader and lecturer at Oxford University, told the Journal: “What matters for refiners is the delivered cost of the crude, and that includes freight. The price at the pump includes all of it and the consumer has to pay the full price.”

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been slammed for having influencers Jake and Logan Paul deliver a motivational speech at the Pentagon.

​The Paul brothers, who have both been linked to President Trump, spoke at the Pentagon a day before National POW/MIA Recognition Day – which honors prisoners of war and those missing in action.

​A spokesperson for the Defense Department touted the brothers’ visit with a video shared online, which was captioned: “Last Thursday, we welcomed Logan and Jake Paul to the Pentagon to meet with our warriors.”

Conflict in the Middle East has raised concerns among holidaymakers with trips booked to Turkey.

Turkey, a popular holiday destination, is considered by the UK Foreign Office (FCDO) a generally safe place for travel, yet the UK government is still warning of an “unpredictable” situation with attacks that “could resume at short notice”.

Aside from ongoing conflict in the region, there are other factors that travellers need to bear in mind when visiting.