The Financial Times reports that the US has imposed sanctions on Iran’s biggest shipping company and largest airline for allegedly helping Tehran develop ballistic missiles in contravention of UN sanctions. The Huffington Post reports that the Trump administration has hit Iran with new sanctions that target several transportation firms as it continues its “maximum pressure campaign” against the Islamic Republic over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

BBC News reports Israel will hold its third general election in less than a year after a deadline was missed for any lawmaker to form a majority coalition. MPs are now expected to set the election date for 2 March. The Times reports that as the leaders of the main political parties exchanged accusations over who was to blame for the deadlock, their members passed a preliminary vote on dissolving the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, paving the way for another election. The Guardian reports that a time limit to forge a majority coalition in the country’s parliament, the Knesset, expired at midnight on Wednesday, automatically triggering a fresh national ballot. The Telegraph reports that by a vote of 94 in favour to none opposed, lawmakers approved a motion dissolving parliament and setting the new election date. The Independent reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief challenger Benny Gantz worked on last-minute bids to avoid yet another vote which is set to cost the country billions of dollars and may produce similar results as the last two rounds.

Reuters reports that Saudi Aramco’s shares opened up 10 per cent in their second trading session on Thursday, briefly sending the state-owned oil company’s market value above the $2 trillion target sought by Saudi leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Financial Times reports that Aramco shares climbed from Wednesday’s close of SR35.2 to a high of SR38.7 before dipping to SR37.3, according to the website of Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange.

The Times reports that Iran has rejected a plea by President Macron to free two French academics being held on spying charges. Mr Macron said that the jailing of Roland Marchal and Fariba Adelkhah, researchers at the SciencesPo university in Paris, was “intolerable” adding: “They must be released immediately.”

The Times reports hundreds of Saudi Arabian pilots and infantrymen will not be trained by the US military after an airman from the Kingdom shot dead three sailors at a US naval base in Florida.

The Independent reports that Western allies are ‘blatantly’ flouting an arms embargo on Libya, the UN says. Both sides in Libya’s ongoing civil war have also employed foreign mercenaries, according to the UN’s report.

Reuters reports that a U.S. Senate committee backed legislation on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in Syria and purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system, the latest move in the chamber to push Republican President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Ankara.

The Associated Press reports several international aid groups warned on Thursday that the flashpoint Yemeni city at the heart of last year’s peace agreement signed in Sweden remains the most dangerous place in the war-torn, impoverished Arab country.

All the Israeli media focus on Israel’s election in March. In Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon calls a third election a ‘nightmare’, writing, “there aren’t words left that can express the public’s disgust with and mistrust towards its elected representatives, and the anger and contempt that it feels towards the MKs.”  She blames Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who “wanted these elections for unacceptable personal reasons and in complete opposition to what is best for the country.”

In Israel Hayom, Matti Tuchfeld, refers to the current situation as a “crisis of trust between our elected officials and the people, a crisis that is so severe that will be hard to repair….This is nothing short of a sign of collapse. The country is paralysed and enslaved to a flawed system with no one able to change it.”

Yossi Verter writes in Haaretz: “The masses haven’t taken to the streets, roads haven’t been blocked, and no trash bin has been set alight. Five more months (at least) of continued paralysis, intensive harm to the economy and to the weaker populations in healthcare and welfare, and it’s as if we’re talking about a decree of fate. That’s just the way it is.”

In Maariv, Ben Caspit reveals behind the scenes yesterday, “Messages continued to be exchanged on the way to nowhere well into the evening. Netanyahu implored whomever he implored to implore Blue and White to give him eight months on the job.” In Caspit’s assessment: “Netanyahu realised yesterday that it’s over and that the magic is gone. He now has to face himself and his fate, and his prospects aren’t particularly good.”