Author: Kim Hjelmgaard and Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY

Paul Whelan denies espionage charges and claims he was set up in a sting operation orchestrated by Russia’s intelligence services.

U.S.-China tensions over coronavirus have been rising for weeks. The spat took a more serious turn after China adopted a law threatening Hong Kong.

U.S. and its alies’ policies toward President Bashar Assad’s Syria have stumbled from intervention and airstrikes to resignation and inattention.

Ukraine launches investigation into claims U.S. Amb. Marie Yovanovitch was placed under surveillance by people linked to President Donald Trump.

Iraq has been at the center of an intensifying tug of war between Tehran and Washington.

Tehran takes new actions to erode its commitment to the 2015 nuclear accord with world powers and acceleratesits nuclear activities.

Iran will speed up enrichment of uranium and pull further out of the nuclear deal with world powers, Iranian officials said.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says the nation will stop observing some parts of the 2015 landmark nuclear accord it signed with world powers.

Trumpadministration callsIran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps a terrorist group, the first time Washington has described a foreign military this way.