Denmark has welcomed a meeting with the U.S. next week to discuss President Donald Trump's renewed call for the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island of Greenland to come under American control.

"This is the dialogue that is needed, as requested by the government together with the Greenlandic government," Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Danish broadcaster DR on Thursday.

Guides who take tourists to enjoy the striking views of Sicily's Mount Etna are up in arms over tougher restrictions imposed by local authorities after a round of eruptions at the giant volcano in recent weeks.

Authorities in the city of Catania have suspended or restricted excursions to see the volcano's lava flows, prompting guides to go on strike for the first time in decades and leaving disgruntled tourists with fewer options to see the spectacle up close.

Iran does not want war with Israel or the United States, but is ready to fight back if attacked again, the country's foreign minister said Thursday.

Speaking upon arrival in Beirut, Abbas Araghchi told reporters that Iran is also ready for negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program as long as the talks are based on mutual respect rather than "dictation" by Washington.

U.S. forces have boarded a Venezuela-linked sanctioned oil tanker in the North Atlantic after pursuing it for weeks, a U.S. official said.

The official spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations. The official said the U.S. military seized the vessel and handed over control to law enforcement officials.

Denmark and Greenland are seeking a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over the strategic Arctic island, a Danish territory.

Tensions escalated after the White House said Tuesday that the "U.S. military is always an option," even as a series of European leaders rejected President Donald Trump's renewed calls for the U.S. to take over Greenland, citing strategic reasons.

Washington and Kyiv teams in Paris were on Wednesday expected to tackle Ukraine talks' "most difficult issues" including territory following a breakthrough in European-led negotiations, Ukraine's leader said.

On Tuesday, European leaders and US envoys announced they had agreed key security guarantees for Kyiv as they sought to present a united front for Ukraine despite raging tensions over Venezuela and President Donald Trump's designs on Greenland.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday ordered security forces not to crack down on economic protests, drawing a distinction between peaceful demonstrators and armed "rioters".

In a video released by the news agency Mehr after a cabinet meeting, Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah said Pezeshkian had "ordered that no security measures be taken against the demonstrators".

Iran faces a new round of protests challenging the country's theocracy, but it seems like the only thing people there want to talk about is half a world away: Venezuela.

Since the U.S. military seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran, over the weekend, Iranian state media headlines and officials have condemned the operation. In the streets and even in some official conversations, however, there's a growing question over whether a similar mission could target the Islamic Republic's top officials including the supreme leader, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

By Kamran Talattof, University of Arizona

A familiar slogan has echoed through the streets of various Iranian cities in recent days: "Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, I sacrifice my life for Iran."

An emboldened U.S. President Donald Trump has hinted that he has other countries in his sights after toppling Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, leaving the world asking: where's next?