The United Arab Emirates condemned the "occupation" of its embassy in Sanaa by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels, the foreign ministry said in a statement demanding their immediate exit from the compound.

The embassy takeover comes as Yemeni loyalists backed by the UAE and Saudi Arabia continue advances against rebels in several southern provinces as well as in third city Taez, seen as a gateway to the rebel-held capital.

More than 300 American rabbis wrote members of Congress Monday urging them to support the international nuclear deal with Iran, signalling the U.S. Jewish community is split over the historic but controversial accord.

The religious leaders come from across the spectrum, but hail overwhelmingly from Judaism's Conservative and Reform streams as well as other progressive Jewish movements, a spokesperson said.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday insisted Moscow did not accept the departure of Syrian President Bashar Assad as a prerequisite for launching any peace process in the war-torn country.

Russia -- one of Assad's few remaining allies along with Iran -- has launched a fresh diplomatic push to find a way out of the four-year civil war that has cost some 240,000 lives.

The fate of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers is still undecided but it will not leave the country vulnerable to U.S. influence, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday.

Khamenei, the country's highest authority, said in a statement quoted on his website that Tehran would block any U.S. attempt to influence Iran despite the historic accord.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag emphasized that the Lebanese officials are primarily accountable for the political and economic situation, stressing that the long-term relations with regional countries might play a positive role in several pressing issues.

“The primary responsibility lies on the Lebanese officials whether regarding the political or economic situations,” said Kaag in an interview with Iran's News Agency IRNA on Monday.

U.S. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump took a strong departure from his party's rejection of the Iran nuclear deal, saying he would not necessarily "rip up" the accord, in an interview aired Sunday.

"I would police that contract so tough that they don't have a chance," the bombastic real estate mogul said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," adding "it's very hard to say we're ripping up" the deal.

Iran has submitted documents linked to its past nuclear activity, the U.N.'s atomic watchdog has confirmed, a key condition of a probe into suspected efforts to create nuclear arms.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) signed a "roadmap" with Iran in July to investigate its nuclear program, as part of an overall accord with major world powers.

Jailed Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian's trial in Iran on spying charges has yet to end, Tehran's justice department chief said Sunday, although his lawyer had said a verdict was imminent.

Lawyer Leila Ahsan said last Monday that the secretive trial had had its final session and a verdict would follow "within a week," in line with legal procedure in Iran.

Thousands of people are expected to march in cities across the globe on Saturday in support of Iran's deal with world powers over its controversial nuclear program, activists said.

The "global day of peace," as organizers describe it on Facebook, is aimed at showing support for the deal, which must be approved by U.S. lawmakers before being implemented. 

Russia said Friday that a U.N.-sanctioned Iranian general was not in Moscow "last week" and said it was surprised at U.S. criticism regarding an alleged visit.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday to express concern about the alleged visit of General Qassem Suleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps' foreign operations.