HEADLINES

• Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday said normal passage through the Strait of Hormuz should be maintained. READ MORE BELOW

• Iran's foreign ministry said it has yet to reach a decision on whether to attend the next round of talks with the US which it accused of "violations" of their two-week ceasefire. READ MORE BELOW

• The ceasefire appeared in jeopardy on Monday after the US said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Tehran vowed to retaliate. READ MORE BELOW

• Israel's military warned Lebanese civilians against returning to dozens of villages in southern Lebanon, claiming Hezbollah's activities in the area were violating a ceasefire agreement struck last week.

• Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said planned talks with Israel aim to end "hostilities" and stressed they were "separate" from Iran-US negotiations. READ MORE BELOW

• Israeli forces have carried out varying degrees of destruction in 39 villages in southern Lebanon since a ceasefire in the war with Hezbollah last week, a senior Hezbollah-allied politician said.

• Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained at a virtual standstill on Monday with just three crossings in the space of 12 hours, according to shipping data. 

• Oil prices surged on a re-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East war after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz at the weekend, just a day after reopening it, citing the US blockade of its ports.

• The Israeli army said that it had determined an image circulating on social media that shows a soldier in south Lebanon hitting a statue of Jesus Christ is authentic and depicts one of its troops.

• Iran hanged two men convicted of having links to Israel's spy agency, the judiciary's ​news outlet Mizan reported.

• US President Donald Trump told Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir that he would consider Munir's advice on the US blockade of Iran's ports being a hurdle to peace talks with Iran when the two spoke by phone, a Pakistani security source said.

• Qatar's aviation authority said it would begin allowing flights from foreign airlines to land at its main airport for the first time since the start of the Middle East war.

IN DETAIL

Xi calls for normal passage in Hormuz

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud that normal passage through the Strait of Hormuz should be maintained.

Xi made the remarks during a phone conversation, pointing out that China attaches great importance to developing relations with Saudi Arabia and has always adhered to the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

Xi stressed that China calls for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, supports all efforts conducive to restoring peace, and remains committed to resolving disputes through political and diplomatic means.

Xi said that the normal passage through the Strait of Hormuz serves the common interests of regional countries and the international community, adding that China supports regional countries in building a common home marked by good-neighborliness, development, security and cooperation, mastering their own future and destiny, and promoting long-term peace and stability in the region. 

Ceasefire in jeopardy

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared in jeopardy on Monday after the US said it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade and Tehran vowed to retaliate.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Washington has shown it was "not serious" about pursuing the diplomatic process and Tehran would not change its clearly stated demands, adding that it did not believe in deadlines or ultimatums when safeguarding national interests.

The US had hoped to start negotiations in Pakistan shortly before the two-week ceasefire expires, with sweeping security preparations under way in Islamabad, but Baghaei said the US was "insisting on some unreasonable and unrealistic positions".

The US military said it had fired on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship headed towards Iran's Bandar Abbas port on Sunday after a six-hour standoff, disabling its engines. US Central Command released video showing Marines descending ropes from helicopters onto the vessel.

Iran's military said the ship had been travelling from China and accused the US of "armed piracy", according to state media. They said they were ready to confront US forces over the "blatant aggression", but were constrained by the presence of crew members' families on board.

Pezeshkian in diplomacy plea

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that every rational and diplomatic path should be used to reduce tensions with the US, but added that vigilance and distrust in interactions with Washington were an "undeniable necessity", according to the state news agency IRNA.

A two-week ceasefire between Iran and the US is set to expire on Wednesday, with US representatives set to reach Islamabad for Iran negotiations on Monday while Tehran has yet to announce whether it will send a delegation to Pakistan.

Iranian state TV quoted an unnamed informed source as saying there were no plans for a second round of negotiations due to the US' "excessive and irrational" demands as well as its changing stances.

Both Iran and the US have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. Pezeshkian said the US blockade showed that Washington was moving toward "repeating previous patterns and betraying diplomacy", according to state TV.

Lebanese talks 'separate' says Aoun

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that planned talks with Israel aim to end hostilities and the Israeli occupation in the south, as he named an ex-ambassador to the United States to lead the delegation.

"The choice to negotiate aims to stop hostilities, end the Israeli occupation of southern regions and deploy the (Lebanese) army all the way to the internationally recognised southern borders" with Israel, Aoun said in a statement.

A 10-day ceasefire pausing more than six weeks of war between Hezbollah and Israel started on Friday after being announced by US President Donald Trump.

More than 2,300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks and over a million displaced since Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the Middle East conflict last month.

Aoun named former Lebanese ambassador to Washington Simon Karam to head the negotiations with Israel, and said "no one will share this task with Lebanon or take its place".

Iran-backed Hezbollah is not part of the talks and its supporters strongly oppose bilateral Lebanon-Israel negotiations.

The truce in Lebanon was one of Iran's conditions for resuming talks with Washington to extend their separate ceasefire and work out the terms of a lasting peace.

But Aoun said Monday that the Israel-Lebanon talks will be "separate from any other negotiations", in an implicit reference to the US-Iran diplomacy.