After securing a surprisingly broad and detailed framework agreement with Iran, President Barack Obama must now subject his signature foreign policy pursuit to the gauntlet of partisan American politics.

A blueprint finalized Thursday after marathon negotiations in Switzerland did little to ease the standoff between Obama and some lawmakers over Congress' role in a final accord. The president has vowed to veto legislation giving Congress the ability to approve or reject a deal, and he made a fresh appeal for lawmakers to give the U.S. and its international partners space to hammer out a comprehensive agreement ahead of a June 30 deadline.

Pakistan will hold a special session of parliament on Monday to debate whether to join the Saudi-led coalition against anti-government rebels in Yemen, the prime minister's office said.

Islamabad, a close and longstanding ally of Saudi Arabia, has so far resisted Riyadh's demand for it to join the group of Arab nations trying to prevent Shiite Huthi rebels from taking over in Yemen.

President Bashar Assad's regime was reeling Thursday from a series of military setbacks after rebels seized a major provincial capital and a key border post in less than a week.

Experts said the losses were a reflection of the regime's weariness after more than four years of civil war and increasing regional efforts to counter Iran's backing for Assad.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said Thursday that all options including military action were on the table in the face of the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Speaking to public radio as crunch talks on Iran's nuclear program continued in Switzerland, Steinitz said Israel would seek to counter any threat through diplomacy and intelligence but "if we have no choice we have no choice... the military option is on the table."

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Wednesday the "strong" ties between their nations, amid tensions between Netanyahu and the Obama administration. 

But ahead of a meeting in Jerusalem, they both avoided directly addressing negotiations between world powers and Iran over Tehran's contested nuclear program.

World powers must toughen their stance to reach a "better" deal with Iran aimed at preventing it from obtaining nuclear weapons, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.

"The concessions offered to Iran in Lausanne would ensure a bad deal that would endanger Israel, the Middle East and the peace of the world," Netanyahu said of ongoing negotiations in Switzerland.

Wary of a rapprochement between Washington and arch-rival Iran, Saudi Arabia has taken matters into its own hands by leading an air war against Shiite rebels in Yemen, experts say.

The Huthi rebels, who Tehran denies arming, were close to seizing most of Yemen when Saudi Arabia sent warplanes into its southern neighbor, with which it shares a 1,800 kilometer (1,100 mile) border.

Egypt and Nigeria accounted for an "alarming rise" in the number of death sentences handed out around the world in 2014, often on the back of security concerns, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The London-based rights watchdog also criticised Pakistan for lifting a moratorium on the execution of civilians in the wake of the Peshawar school massacre by Taliban militants in December.

Argentine prosecutors launched a new appeal Tuesday of a court's decision to dismiss their case against President Cristina Kirchner for allegedly protecting Iranian officials accused of orchestrating a deadly 1994 bombing.

Prosecutors are seeking to relaunch the case that was being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman, who died mysteriously on January 18 after accusing Kirchner of shielding high-ranking Iranians suspected of ordering the attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish center.

Iran will not be able to reap the benefits of any nuclear deal with world powers without the cooperation of its Gulf neighbors, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Prince Saud al-Faisal's comments came on deadline day to reach a framework agreement aimed at stopping Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, in exchange for easing crippling sanctions.