By Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee

TAIPEI, March 25 (Reuters) - Taiwan fears China will exploit the distraction of the United States by its war in the Middle East, with state media citing examples from the conflict to cast doubt on the efficiency of U.S. weapons the island would use to repel any invasion.

One of the world's biggest potential flashpoints, democratically governed Taiwan faces growing military pressure from China, which views the island as its own territory, around which Beijing held its latest war games in December.

March 25 (Reuters) - Countries across Asia are weighing up work-from-home policies and stimulus measures enforced during the COVID pandemic, as they scramble to respond to global fuel shortages triggered by the Iran war.

Asia is at the frontline of the fuel crisis, buying more than 80% of the crude that transits the Strait of Hormuz, which has been almost totally blocked by Iran since the war broke out on February 28.

No country in the region has enforced work-from-home measures yet, but some have said they are on the table.

By Lisa Baertlein and Jonathan Saul

LOS ANGELES/LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - The Western allies trying to negotiate a way to protect the Strait of Hormuz for energy shipping face a stark reality: a similar effort in the Red Sea that started years earlier cost billions of dollars and ultimately failed against Yemen's Houthis.

US President Donald Trump is ready to "unleash hell" if Iran does not accept a deal to end the nearly four-week Middle East war, the White House warned Wednesday, but a defiant Tehran said it did not intend to negotiate.

The ramped-up rhetoric dashed hopes of any imminent de-escalation as violence on the ground showed no sign of abating, with Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all coming under fire.

March 25 (Reuters) - The United States is negotiating with itself, an Iranian military spokesman said according to state media on Wednesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said Tehran wants to make a deal to end the war in the Middle East.

A 15-point plan aimed at putting an end to the conflict was drafted by Washington and sent to Tehran, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

(Fixes typo in headline, no change to text)

CAIRO/WASHINGTON March 25 (Reuters) - Israel struck the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday, Israeli military and Iranian media said, as President Donald Trump said the U.S. was making progress in its efforts to negotiate an end to the war, with reports of a 15-point plan sent to Tehran.

Disruptions to fertiliser supplies caused by the Middle East war pose a double threat to global food security through scarcity and high prices, a top World Trade Organization official has warned.

Iran has virtually shut the Strait of Hormuz, choking a vital transit route for oil and gas -- as well as fertilisers.

A third of the world's fertilisers normally transit the strait, and the disruption has prompted multiple warnings about the impact on food production.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said negotiations with Israel under fire would amount to "surrender", as the Iran-backed group launched attacks and Israel said it was expanding a "buffer zone" inside Lebanon.

Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon for around two decades until 2000, has kept up strikes on its northern neighbour and sent ground troops to take control of a strip up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border.

BEIJING, March 24 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Tuesday on parties to seize all opportunities to start peace talks as soon as possible in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, according to a statement from Wang's ministry.

Talking is always better than fighting, Wang told Araqchi, adding that "all hotspot issues should be resolved through dialogue and negotiation, not by using force".

According to Iranian state media on Wednesday, Araqchi had responded by saying:

March 24 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday evening, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Starmer reiterated support for Saudi Arabia during the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, and updated the Saudi crown prince on the deployment of further UK defensive military equipment, the spokesperson said.

"Iran's ongoing attacks, including on critical national infrastructure, were appalling," Starmer said.