Iraq signed 48 agreements and partnerships with American companies, many in the oil sector, during a visit to the U.S. by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, his office said Saturday.

Hostilities in the Middle East intensified on Saturday after a seventh straight night of U.S. attacks on Iran, with Tehran threatening a "full-scale offensive" in response and the strategic Strait of Hormuz remaining virtually closed.

Iran's health ministry said Friday that at least 38 people had been killed and more than 400 injured in the country since fighting resumed with the United States.

"The number of injured from US attacks has exceeded 400, and 38 compatriots have been martyred" since June 22, ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour posted on X. "Among them are 22 injured women, three martyred women, nine injured under the age of 18, and one martyr under 18."

China and Pakistan's foreign ministers called Friday for the United States and Iran to stop fighting and resume negotiations, according to a statement following a meeting in Shanghai.

China's Wang Yi and Pakistan's Ishaq Dar jointly "expressed concern over the deterioration of the current situation, calling on the involved parties to immediately cease hostilities... (and) return to dialogue", the statement by China's foreign ministry said.

Two former heads of government from the Elders group of international figures founded by Nelson Mandela on Friday warned of the potential disappearance of the Palestinian territories and called for an end to what they called Israeli "impunity".

The call from former Ireland president Mary Robinson and former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark comes after they visited Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan and Lebanon.

Kuwait reported Friday an Iranian attack on a power and water plant on Friday, while Bahrain and Qatar also said they had intercepted missiles after the U.S. attacked power infrastructure in Iran.

Kuwait said that a power and water plant had been damaged by an Iranian attack, as the war in the Middle East escalated.

Iran's energy ministry called on citizens to reduce electricity use on Friday after the power grid came under strain following U.S. strikes on energy infrastructure in the south.

The ministry in a statement urged people to switch off air conditioners in peak hours "to help ensure a stable electricity supply in the southern provinces, which are currently facing extreme heat and attacks on electricity supply facilities".

Deadly U.S. strikes overnight hit an airport, a railway station in the port city of Bandar Abbas and two bridges in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media said Friday.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz told his U.S. counterpart Pete Hegseth early Thursday that Israel is determined to keep its forces in "security zones" it has carved out inside Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Katz's office said the two men spoke overnight and the minister "emphasized Israel's determination to remain in the security zones in Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon in order to protect Israel's borders and the communities near the border from the threats posed by jihadist forces".

A team of international scientists sets sail Thursday from Britain for Greenland to study its rapidly melting ice using drones, mini-submarines and autonomous swimming robots.