UN chief Antonio Guterres said Saturday on a visit to Beirut that diplomatic channels remained open to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah and urged the international community to support Lebanon.

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, and the Tehran-backed group's leader has said the militants were ready for a long confrontation with Israel.

March 14 (Reuters) - Kharg Island, where U.S. forces on Friday destroyed military targets, is the hub for 90% of Iran's oil exports and has long been seen as a key vulnerability that would provoke a severe response by Tehran if attacked.

President Donald Trump said on social media that the U.S. "totally obliterated every MILITARY target" on Kharg and threatened that oil infrastructure could be targeted if Iran continues to interfere with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran threatened Saturday to reduce US-linked oil facilities to "a pile of ashes" as the two-week-old Middle East war spilled over into a global oil price crisis.

Iranian armed forces issued the warning after US President Donald Trump said he may decide to "wipe out" Iran's largest oil export hub on its Kharg Island.

Waves of drone, missile and aerial bombing have displaced millions in the region and reportedly killed more than 1,200 people in Iran since the United States and Israel opened hostilities on February 28.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - White House AI czar David Sacks said on Friday the U.S. should "declare victory and get out" of its war on Iran, a rare instance of a prominent figure in Donald Trump's administration calling for an exit from the Iran conflict.

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Threatened by volleys of Hezbollah rockets and missiles from Iran, residents of Arab towns in northern Israel are complaining about a lack of public shelters.

"The state is obliged to build public shelters so that the entire population has access to safe havens," Mazen Ghanayem, mayor of the town of Sakhnin, told AFP.

"Yet our town doesn't have a single public shelter worthy of the name."

Located just 20 kilometres from the border with Lebanon, the town's 36,000 residents have grown all too used to the rockets fired by Hezbollah.

By Bo Erickson, Parisa Hafezi, Maya Gebeily and Alexander Cornwell

WASHINGTON/DUBAI/JERUSALEM, March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to order strikes on the petroleum infrastructure of Iran's Kharg Island oil hub unless Tehran stopped attacking vessels in the vital Strait of Hormuz, a warning that could further roil markets already coping with a historic disruption in supply.

Iran's leaders are seeking to show the staying power of their near half-century old clerical-based system and prove that it can withstand the killing of its longtime ruler and war with United States and Israel, analysts said.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader since the death of revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, was killed along with several family members and top security figures in air strikes at the start of the US-Israeli attacks late last month.

SHANGHAI, March 14 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in a phone call that disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistan should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, not force, the foreign ministry said in a statement published on Friday.

Wang urged both sides to remain calm and exercise restraint, hold face-to-face talks as soon as possible, seek an immediate ceasefire and address differences through dialogue, according to the statement.

US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's leader but have not toppled the government, which now, from its perch on the Strait of Hormuz, has put the entire world economy on the war's frontlines.

The initial US victory in killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei has given way to a conflict that Washington cannot completely control, sharply limiting President Donald Trump's options.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees said on Friday that a travel ban imposed by the Trump administration is preventing him from attending this weekend's Academy Awards, whose nominees include a movie in which he has a starring role.

"The Voice of Hind Rajab," a film about a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2024, has been Oscar-nominated for best international feature film.