Oil prices jumped and equities were mixed Monday as Middle East peace talks stumbled, while Lebanese authorities said Hezbollah had accepted a US proposal for a "mutual cessation of attacks."

Crude futures shot around seven percent higher after an Iranian state news agency announced Tehran had suspended its negotiations with Washington via mediators.

International benchmark Brent closed 4.2 percent higher while its US counterpart, the West Texas Intermediate, added 5.5 percent.

May 31 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the diplomatic negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, a U.S. official said on Sunday.

The U.S. has proposed that as a first step Hezbollah will stop all attacks on Israel and in return Israel would refrain from escalation in Beirut, the official said.

The U.S. official added that Aoun tried to advance this proposal, but Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri placed the burden on Israel to stop "shooting first."

An ex-Syrian general and a former senior Syrian police officer pleaded not guilty on Monday to torturing opponents of ousted president Bashar al-Assad as their trial started in Vienna.

The two face charges including torture, aggravated coercion, sexual coercion and inflicting serious bodily harm. Prosecutors accused them of "having, on numerous occasions, ordered or failed to oppose the mistreatment of members of a protest movement".

May 31 (Reuters) - Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump in which they discussed supporting the Syrian economy and the latest regional developments, the Syrian presidency said on Sunday.

During the call, Sharaa said lifting the remaining U.S. sanctions on Syria was an essential step toward reviving the Syrian economy and attracting investment, the statement said.

(Reporting by Harem Maher and Muhammad Al Gebaly; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

CAIRO, May 31 (Reuters) - An Israeli airstrike killed at least two Palestinians and wounded 12 on Sunday at a Gaza cafe that was packed with people celebrating public holidays, health officials said.

There was no immediate Israeli comment.

An October ceasefire, brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, has failed to halt Israeli attacks in Gaza.

Israel and Hamas are deadlocked in indirect talks over implementing the second phase of the deal, which includes the ⁠group's disarmament and Israeli army withdrawals.

JERUSALEM, May 31 (Reuters) - Israeli troops have seized the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and its strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, the military said on Sunday, a major advance against Iran-backed Hezbollah despite a ceasefire announced more than six weeks ago.

It comes after Saturday, one of the heaviest days of Hezbollah fire toward northern Israel since the April ceasefire, prompting school closures and restrictions.

The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting Monday on the fighting in Lebanon after Israel's military took over the medieval castle of Beaufort in Lebanese territory, diplomatic sources told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to push deeper into Lebanon and called Sunday's operation a "dramatic shift" in the campaign against Hezbollah.

US President Donald Trump said Monday that talks with Iran were moving at a "rapid pace", even as Tehran threatened to widen the war by keeping the Strait of Hormuz blocked and activating other pressure points around the region.

Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran had suspended dialogue with mediators over Israel's expanding offensive in Lebanon, where the US ally again threatened strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

LONDON, May 31 (Reuters) - British foreign minister Yvette Cooper will travel to China on Monday, and then onwards to India later in the week, with the visits to focus on global issues from the Strait of Hormuz and the Russia-Ukraine war to the recent Ebola outbreak.

Cooper will meet her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on June 2, before travelling to the southern tech hub of Shenzhen for a programme focussed on science and technology a day later, the government said.

By Raphael Satter

May 30 - The U.S. military says it fired a missile into the engine room of a vessel trying to get through the U.S. blockade of Iran on Friday.

Here are some details:

• In a statement on Saturday, U.S. Central Command said it fired a Hellfire missile into the engine room of the Gambia-flagged Lian Star as it was "transiting international waters toward an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman."

• Before the attack, U.S. forces issued "more than 20 warnings" informing the vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade, according to Centcom.