Saudi Arabia beheaded two nationals in the southwestern city of Jizan on Tuesday after they were convicted of armed robbery, the interior ministry announced.

"Mohammed bin Ahmed Kharmi and Musa bin Mohsen Kharmi lured a man and opened fire on him," said the ministry in a statement published by SPA state news agency, adding the victim, whose identity was not disclosed, was wounded.

Turkey on Tuesday said it won't extradite Iraq's fugitive vice president Tareq al-Hashemi, who has been convicted of murder and sentenced to death in absentia by an Iraqi court.

"We will host Hashemi in our country as long as he wants to remain in Turkey. We will not hand him over," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara.

Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi said on Monday the high price of crude was not justified by market fundamentals, stressing that supply and demand are balanced.

"Saudi Arabia is concerned about rising oil prices in the international oil market. The current high price of oil is simply not supported by market fundamentals," he said in a statement.

Iran said it was joining officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for a four-way "contact group" meeting in Cairo looking at ways to calm the conflict in Syria.

An Iranian deputy foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, had left Tehran for the Egyptian capital to take part in the meeting, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Iran's Al-Alam Arabic-language broadcaster.

Eight Saudis wanted for alleged links to al-Qaida have handed themselves in to the authorities, the state news agency SPA reported on Sunday.

The surrender was overseen by the families of those wanted and a center headed by Deputy Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by SPA.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has been discharged from hospital after an operation early last month but must convalesce further at home, state media reported on Friday.

The official SPA news agency gave no date for when the 72-year-old prince, who has been foreign minister for more than 35 years, might be able to resume his duties.

Iran is the "only power" that can secure the oil-rich Gulf, a Revolutionary Guards commander said on Tuesday, adding that the reinforced U.S. navy presence in the waterway was causing regional instability.

"The only power which can provide for the security in the region is the Islamic Republic of Iran and the world is slowly grasping this issue," said Admiral Ali Fadavi, the Guards' top naval chief, quoted by the website of the Bushehr provincial governor's office (ostb.ir).

Yemen told a donor meeting on Tuesday it needs almost $12 billion dollars in the short term to weather a rough political transition triggered by Arab Spring protests.

"The national unity government needs $11.9 billion in the short term," Planning and International Cooperation Minister Mohammed al-Saadi told delegates at the meeting in the Saudi capital.

The success of a new international peace envoy to Syria depends on states such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and not on Syria, a Syrian minister told reporters in Damascus on Monday.

"The success of Lakhdar Brahimi does not depend on Syria," said Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi.

Pakistan on Thursday arrested the head of a banned Sunni extremist group accused of inciting sectarian hatred and masterminding an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009, police said.

Malik Ishaq, leader of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which is said to have links to al-Qaida, was arrested in the eastern city of Lahore after his return from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, police spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar said.