April 20 (Reuters) - Pakistan is confident it can get Iran to attend talks with the United States, a senior Pakistani government official told Reuters on Monday.

"We have received a positive signal from Iran. Things are fluid but we are trying that they should be here when we start the talks tomorrow or a day after," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source added Pakistan is actively engaged with Tehran and Washington as U.S. President Donald Trump's ceasefire deadline looms.

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday he believed a nuclear deal the U.S. is currently negotiating with Iran will be better than a 2015 international agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program.

"The DEAL that we are making with Iran will be FAR BETTER than the JCPOA, commonly referred to as 'The Iran Nuclear Deal',” Trump wrote in a social media post after concerns expressed by Democrats and some nuclear experts that he is rushing negotiations on a highly complex topic.

By Lili Bayer

BRUSSELS, April 20 (Reuters) - The Board of Peace’s lead envoy for Gaza told Reuters on Monday that he was “fairly optimistic” a plan for disarmament of Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza can be agreed but cautioned that it will still take time.

“We've had some very serious discussions with Hamas over the last few weeks, they're not easy,” Nickolay Mladenov said in an interview during a visit to Brussels.

ANKARA, April 20 (Reuters) - Turkey will tighten gun-ownership rules and increase penalties for owners whose children find the firearms, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday after last week's rare, deadly school shootings.

The second of the two separate attacks by students last week killed eight pupils and a teacher in a southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, shocking a nation in which such school-based violence is very rare.

Erdogan said the government will also take additional steps to monitor the internet as part of its response to the incidents.

Iran is banking on the Strait of Hormuz as its main card in any peace negotiations with the United States, but using the waterway as leverage is not without risk for the Islamic republic.

Iran had for decades talked up the threat of blocking the strait, which is a critical chokepoint for global energy supplies.

With the US and Israel launching a surprise war on Iran on February 28 and killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran finally made good on those threats and brought the vital waterway to a standstill.

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - Vice President JD Vance is still in the United States and has not yet departed for Pakistan, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, as prospects for a second round of negotiations with Iran remain unclear.

President Donald Trump has said he would send a U.S. delegation to Pakistan for additional talks before a ceasefire is set to expire in the coming days. Iran is considering attending the peace talks, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, but no decision had been made.

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - The Iranian-flagged container ship Touska, which was boarded and seized by U.S. forces on Sunday, is likely to have what Washington deems dual-use items that could be used by the military onboard, maritime security sources said on Monday.

By Julia Payne and John Irish

BRUSSELS/PARIS, April 20 (Reuters) - The European Union will expand the criteria of its Iran sanctions to include those responsible for blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely shut for nearly two months upending global energy and commodities markets, two EU diplomats said.

Tehran effectively closed the strait after ​U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, cutting off roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday that Israel did not persuade him to attack Iran, after news reports that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu influenced the U.S. president's decision and criticism from right-wing commentators.

"Israel never talked me into the war with Iran, the results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Traffic once again seized up in the Strait of Hormuz as both Tehran and Washington imposed separate blockades, with Iranian vessels continuing to test the US shutdown, tracking data showed Monday.

Iran announced on Friday that it would reopen the strategic waterway, but the United States did not reciprocate for vessels going to and from Iranian ports.

Dozens of commercial vessels passed through the strait before Iran reclosed the passage on Saturday, later warning that any approaching ship would be treated as a target.