Gen. Martin Dempsey said bluntly that he does not want to be “complicit” if Israel chooses to attack Iran, as he put more distance between the United States and Israel over a potential attack.

Speaking to reporters in London, Dempsey reiterated the U.S. position that an Israeli attack on Iran would "clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran's nuclear program.”

“I don't want to be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it,” Dempsey said, according to The Guardian.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will head the American delegation to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's funeral on Sunday, the State Department announced Thursday. Read more...

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi put to rest Western concerns that he's drawing into Iran's orbit Thursday with a strong repudiation of Syrian President Bashar Assad, a close ally of the Iranian regime. 

Speaking at the summit of the Cold War-era Non-Aligned Movement in Iran, Morsi called on the 120 members of the group to stand against Assad's “oppressive” regime, Reuters reports, prompting a walkout by the Syrian delegation. Morsi raised U.S. concerns earlier this week with his call for Iran, a powerful regional player, to participate in a multilateral peace effort alongside Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia after the Western-backed United Nations peace effort proved a failure.

“The bloodshed in Syria is our responsibility on all our shoulders and we have to know that the bloodshed cannot stop without effective interference from all of us," Morsi reportedly said. "We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom."

Separately, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose presence at the summit had been criticized by the United States and Israel, had harsh words for Iran's anti-Israel stance.

“I strongly reject threats by any member state to destroy another or outrageous attempts to deny historical facts, such as the Holocaust,” Ban said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report will raise fresh questions about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Three Australian soldiers were killed by a man in an Afghan army uniform in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, bringing the number of NATO soldiers killed in “green-on-blue” attacks to 45 this year.

Another two Australian troops were killed in a separate incident when their helicopter crashed Thursday.

“In a war of so many losses, this is our single worst day in Afghanistan,” Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said, according to The Associated Press. “Indeed, I believe this is the most losses in combat since the days of the Vietnam War and the Battle of Long Tan. This is news so truly shocking that it’s going to feel for many Australians like a physical blow.”

The Obama administration has told U.S. embassy staffers in Mali to stay put as the political situation in the southern part of the country improves following the military coup in March.

The new travel warning replaces an April advisory that allowed the departure of non-emergency personnel and their families. Staffers are still barred from unauthorized travel to the Islamist-dominated breakaway region in the north, however, which has been overrun by al Qaeda-linked militants. 

“The Department of State is lifting the Authorized Departure of non-emergency personnel and all eligible family members of U.S. Embassy personnel,” the State Department said in the new travel warning. "While the security situation in Bamkao is improving, the country faces continued challenges including food shortages, internally displaced persons, and the presence in northern Mali of factions linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)."

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to the Cook Islands on Friday underscores the strategic importance of even the farthest-flung archipelagos as the United States ramps up competition with China in the Pacific, writes The Los Angeles Times.

Iran's top nuclear scientist is back at work after being sidelined for several years, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The audience responded with unbridled enthusiasm to much of Rice’s speech.

The 2008 GOP nominee said he had hopes of addressing the convention "under different circumstances."