JERUSALEM, March 16 (Reuters) - Shrapnel from ballistic missiles fired by Iran and debris from the Israeli interceptors that shot them down fell on Monday around Jerusalem's walled Old City and some of its most sacred Christian, Muslim and Jewish sites, Israeli police said.

There were no casualties or major damage reported at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the nearby hilltop plateau known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa compound and to Jews as Temple Mount, a flashpoint site that is holy to both faiths.

BRUSSELS, March 16 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers showed "no appetite" to expand an EU naval mission in the Middle East to the Strait of Hormuz for the time being, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called on other nationsto help police the strait after Iran responded to U.S.-Israeli attacks by using drones, missiles and mines to ‌effectively close thechannelfor tankers that normally transport a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.

By Maggie Michael

TEHRAN, March 16 (Reuters) - As gravediggers prepared new burial plots for those killed in the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, Marzia Razaei wept for her son Arfan Shamei, who died in a blast at a military training camp days before he was due home on leave.

The war that began on February 28 with a blitz of air strikes on Tehran and other cities has killed more than 1,300 Iranians so far, according to Iranian officials, and plunged the Middle East into crisis.

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday that he believes Iran wants to make a deal to end the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Tehran but that it is unclear who is actually leading Iran.

"We don't know who their leader is. We have people wanting to negotiate. We have no idea who they are," Trump told reporters during a White House event.

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday repeated his call to nations to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz, and appeared to criticize countries he said were not enthusiastic about providing aid.

Trump wants nations to help police the strait after Iran responded to U.S.-Israeli attacks by using drones, missiles and mines to ‌effectively close the channel for tankers that usually transport a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.

President Donald Trump criticized US allies on Monday for their lukewarm response to his call to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the US war against Iran.

Trump called for more "enthusiasm" from other countries, as he said he believed France and Britain would somewhat reluctantly get involved.

"We strongly encourage the other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm," Trump told reporters during an event at the White House.

"The level of enthusiasm matters to me."

Cheap and deadly, Iranian-designed Shahed drones have inflicted major damage in the Middle East war, and have anti-jamming and other capabilities that make them difficult to stop.

- Offline navigation -

Designed to explode on impact, Shahed drones connect to GPS to register their location shortly before or after takeoff, then typically turn off their receivers, said Thomas Withington, a researcher at Britain's Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

By David Lawder and Elizabeth Howcroft

PARIS, March 16 (Reuters) - Any potential delay to a planned summit this month between the U.S. and Chinese presidents would not stem from trade or shipping disputes with China but from the possibility that Donald Trump needs to remain in Washington because of the war with Iran, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday.

By Ariba Shahid

KARACHI, March 16 (Reuters) - Ship-tracking data shows a Pakistan-bound oil tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, indicating that some countries are able to negotiate safe passage for their vessels despite the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Since the war began more than two weeks ago, Iran has attacked several ships in the Gulf, in effect closing the strait, conduit for a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas, and driving up global energy prices. [O/R]

With assault rifles, daggers and posters of Iran's late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waving in the air as tens of thousands chant "death to America, death to Israel", there's little mistaking where the loyalties of Yemen's Houthis lie.

But will the battle-hardened militia backed by the Islamic republic join the war with the United States and Israel?

Since the Middle East war erupted, the Houthis have held regular demonstrations in their capital Sanaa, where supporters have come out in full force to rally behind their brothers in arms in Iran.