Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in 2010 ordered the army to prepare an attack against Iranian nuclear installations, though the order was later rescinded, Israeli television said Sunday.

According to private television Channel 2, the order was not implemented due to opposition from the army chief at the time, General Gabi Ashkenazi, and from then Mossad chief Meir Dagan.

Amnesty International called on Iran on Friday to probe allegations of abuses against female prisoners by their guards, saying nine women inmates were on hunger strike in response to the mistreatment.

The women, held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, include activists and journalists who say they were subjected to humiliating and degrading body searches by female guards who also confiscated their personal belongings, Amnesty said.

The plunge in Iran's currency is proving bad for business in neighboring Iraq.

Yousif Jassim Mohammed would know. The Iraqi merchant's gift shop sits on prime real estate opposite the gold-domed Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims and a huge draw for the busloads of Iranian pilgrims that form the bedrock of Iraq's tourist trade.

Thousands of Iranians chanting "Death to America" burnt U.S. flags on Friday to mark the 33rd anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, just days before the American presidential election.

The demonstrators also chanted anti-British and anti-Israeli slogans, and burnt Israeli flags, as they gathered in front of the site of the former embassy, dubbed the "den of spies" by the authorities who sponsor the annual commemoration, an Agence France Presse photographer reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks Wednesday with President Francois Hollande on the Iranian nuclear program.

The two-day trip is Netanyahu's "first opportunity to talk with President Hollande, and he hopes to build a good working relationship with the French leader," a source close to the Israeli leader told AFP.

Iran said Wednesday it has completed a first round of talks with Argentina on the 1994 bombing of a Jewish aid organization in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded 300.

"On Monday and Tuesday, Iranian and Argentine legal experts held their negotiations about AMIA (the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association) and agreed to continue negotiations in the future," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

Iran averted a showdown over its nuclear program by putting a third of its medium-enriched uranium to civilian use, but the respite may be short-lived, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph while on a visit to London, Barak said it was "probable" that a tipping point in Israel's standoff with Iran over its nuclear program would have been reached before the U.S. presidential election next month had Iran not diverted the fuel in August.

The visit of two Iranian naval ships to Sudan reflects strong ties between the countries, Sudan's military said on Tuesday after Khartoum denied Iranian involvement in weapons manufacturing.

Sudan's links to Iran have come under scrutiny after Khartoum accused Israel of sending four radar-evading aircraft to strike the Yarmouk military factory in the heart of the capital at midnight on October 23.

A senior officer in Israel's northern command on Monday dismissed an Iranian claim they were in possession of data transmitted by an unmanned Hizbullah drone that overflew Israel earlier this month.

"I don't think there was a camera," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity, although he admitted the incident was "still being investigated."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have agreed to join forces for a general election in the new year, boosting the premier's position as favorite.

Netanyahu and Lieberman said Thursday they will present a joint list for the January 22 election without merging their respective parties, Likud and Yisrael Beitenu.