The U.N. will Tuesday start hosting separate talks with rival sides and "as many stakeholders as possible" in war-torn Syria in a bid to kickstart stalled negotiations to end the four-year conflict.

United Nations peace envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura will give a news conference around midday Tuesday, kicking off four to six weeks of "separate consultations" with different sides in Syria's four-year conflict, spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.

Iran is determined to end the "manufactured crisis" over its nuclear program and drafting of a final deal with world powers, though hard, is progressing, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday.

The remarks, on Zarif's official Twitter account, came two days after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry denounced what he said was "hysteria" from opponents of an agreement, which is due by June 30.

Dozens of Iraqis crowding a Baghdad street fought to glimpse the red-haired man in a glass coffin, hoping to witness the end of a long-feared member of Saddam Hussein's regime.

The furore over the dead man -- who might be Saddam's deputy Izzat al-Duri, though his identity has still not been determined -- is yet another sign of the influence the dictator exercises in Iraq more than 12 years after his overthrow.

U.S. warships protecting American-flagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz may extend assistance to other countries' vessels, officials said Friday, after reports of Iranian forces harassing shipping.

The expanded U.S. naval presence is intended to signal to Iran that Washington is ready to safeguard shipping along the vital corridor, even at a moment of delicate diplomacy with Tehran over its nuclear program, experts said.

U.S. naval forces providing protection for American-flagged ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz may extend the assistance to other countries' commercial vessels using the waterway, officials said Friday.

Pentagon officials said Thursday that warships had begun "accompanying" U.S.-flagged vessels in the strategic corridor as a precaution after Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged ship this week and "harassed" an American-flagged ship last week.

Thousands of Iranian workers held a May Day demonstration in Tehran Friday to demand improved conditions and protest against foreigners taking jobs in the Islamic republic, Ilna news agency reported.

The demonstrators gathered in the center of the capital near the offices of the House of Labor, the official workers' union.

The Gulf Cooperation Council insisted Thursday that talks on ending Yemen's conflict be brokered by the regional body and held in Riyadh rather than a neutral venue as sought by Iran.

Tehran has called for the U.N. talks between Yemen's political factions to be held somewhere other than in any of the countries taking part in a Saudi-led military campaign against Shiite rebels.

Two Iranian destroyers, sent to the Gulf of Aden to protect commercial ships, have reached the entrance of Bab el-Mandab, a strategic strait between Yemen and Djibouti, Iran's navy said Thursday.

In another sign of tensions between Gulf rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, the Saudi charge d'affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry in Tehran to hear a "strong protest" over Saudi military action which prevented an Iranian plane from landing in Sanaa.

Danish shipping group A.P. Moeller-Maersk on Thursday urged Iran to release the crew of a chartered cargo vessel seized by Iran over a 10-year cargo dispute with an Iranian company.

"We must insist that the crew and vessel are released as soon as possible. The crew is not employed by Maersk Line, nor is the vessel owned by Maersk Line," the company said in a statement.

Iran is willing to submit to the highest level of international transparency on its nuclear program and wants to conclude a final accord as soon as possible, its foreign minister said Wednesday.

"The (U.N. nuclear agency) IAEA has seen everything and if you're looking for a smoking gun, you've got to wait a long, long, long time before you get one," Mohammad Javad Zarif told an audience at New York University.