MOSCOW, April 27 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in St. Petersburg on Monday and told him he hoped the Iranian people would weather what he described as a "difficult period" and that peace would soon prevail.

Russia has offered to mediate to try to help restore calm to the Middle East following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, which Moscow has condemned. It has also repeatedly offered to store Iran's enriched uranium as a way of defusing tensions, an offer the United States has not taken up.

BEIRUT, April 27 (Reuters) - The Israeli military began carrying out strikes in eastern Lebanon on Monday, expanding the scope of its bombing campaign during a ceasefire that has failed to fully halt hostilities with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

The strikes on Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley marked the first time the area has been hit since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire came into force on April 16, significantly reducing the pace of attacks without entirely stopping the exchanges of fire.

April 27 (Reuters) - A superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, shipping data showed, one of very few vessels to transit the blockaded shipping lane at the heart of the U.S.-Iran conflict.

Nord - a 142-meter (465-foot) yacht worth over $500 million - left a Dubai marina at around 1400 GMT on Friday, crossed the strait on Saturday morning, and arrived in Muscat early on Sunday, according to data on the MarineTraffic platform.

JERUSALEM, April 27 (Reuters) - Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top rivals announced they would join forces in an upcoming election to oust his coalition government, with a focus mainly on domestic issues such as military conscription for the ultra-Orthodox.

By Andreas Rinke and Kirsti Knolle

BERLIN, April 27 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday Iran's leadership was humiliating the United States and getting U.S. officials to travel to Pakistan and then leave without results, in an unusually abrupt rebuke over the conflict.

Merz also said he not see what exit strategy the U.S. was pursuing in the Iran war - comments that underlined deep divisions between Washington and its European NATO allies, which had already been festering over Ukraine and other issues.

By Haseeb Alwazeer

GAZA, April 27 (Reuters) - Palestinians are using war rubble to repave streets destroyed during Israel's two-year assault on Gaza, crushing concrete and metal into pavement under a U.N.-run project they hope will mark a first step toward rehabilitating their damaged cities.

The project run by the United Nations Development Programme comes as progress stalls in U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, meant to build on an October Israel-Hamas ceasefire by surging aid and rebuilding the enclave from scratch.

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - At least seven ships - mainly dry bulk vessels - have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, in line with muted activity in recent days, shipping data showed on Monday, while talks between Iran and the United States have stalled.

The vessels included ships leaving from Iraqi ports and one dry bulk vessel from an Iranian port, according to ship tracking data from Kpler and separate satellite analysis from data analytics specialists SynMax.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah's rockets and drones were a key threat demanding military action, as Israel's army expanded strikes on Lebanon where authorities reported four dead on Monday despite a ceasefire.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said direct talks with Israel sought to end the Israel-Hezbollah war and that those who dragged Lebanon into it were the ones committing "treason" -- a jab at the Iran-backed group, which claimed several attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon on Monday.

By Gus Trompiz and Naveen Thukral

PARIS/SINGAPORE, April 27 (Reuters) - Farmers around the world are facing the second surge in fertiliser prices in four years due to the Iran war. But with grain prices too low to cushion the blow from the deeper supply crunch this time around, many are rethinking planting plans, putting global food production at risk.

The Middle East is a leading fertiliser production hub, and much of the global fertiliser trade typically passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has seen traffic brought to a standstill by the conflict.

The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Iran FM meets Putin -

President Vladimir Putin told Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that Russia would do everything it could to halt the Middle East war, as the two met in Saint Petersburg.

"For our part, we will do everything that serves your interests, the interests of all the people of the region, so that peace can be achieved as soon as possible," Russian state media quoted Putin as telling Araghchi.

- Iran demands over Hormuz -