Iran

When a general in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard and several ranking members of Hezbollah were killed Sunday, they were within 10 miles of Israel's northeastern border.

King Abdullah, who's at least 90, was hospitalized last week and Crown Prince Salman delivered an annual televised speech Tuesday. One analyst says the kingdom is stable, perhaps too much so.

"I believe in diplomacy, I believe in dialogue, I believe in engagement," the president says of Iran and other regimes perceived as U.S. enemies. But he says restoring relations is a gradual process.

Many Iranians were upbeat when Hassan Rouhani was elected last year. But much of that optimism has faded due to the nuclear talks that are dragging and a bleak economic outlook.

Falling oil prices have been good news for the U.S. But they're causing multiple problems for some exporters. Government budgets are strained. Economies are struggling. Currencies are crashing.

Iran is now receiving about $700 million a month in sanctions relief while talks on its nuclear program carry on. That's raising eyebrows among one group of Americans with a traumatic history in Iran.