By Nazih Osseiran and Emilie Madi

June 11 (Reuters) - After a ceasefire was announced between Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel in April, Darine Al Jouny Safadi thought the worst was behind her and returned home to the Christian quarter of southern Lebanon's port city of Tyre.

Around three weeks later, Safadi and her family were on the run again, fleeing Israeli bombardment for the second time in almost as many months, despite worries they'd never return.

The World Bank on Thursday lowered its global growth forecast to its lowest level since the pandemic, warning of the expanding economic impacts of the war in the Middle East on countries around the globe.

Worldwide growth is now forecast to drop to 2.5 percent in 2026, from 2.9 percent a year earlier, with headline inflation averaging four percent, the multilateral lender said in its Global Economic Prospects report.

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would like to take over Iran's oil infrastructure hub Kharg Island but he was not sure Americans have the appetite for a major escalation in the war.

"We are talking to them and all, but you know, look, my preference has always been - take Kharg Island ... my preference would be that. I don't know that America has the stomach for it," he said in an interview on Fox News.

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - The United States will hit Iran "very hard tonight" and will soon take control of the Middle Eastern country's oil and gas infrastructure and markets, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday.

"At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela," Trump said on Truth Social.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson; editing by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a "great settlement" to end the war with Iran, saying he expected a deal to be signed in Europe as soon as this weekend.

Trump -- who is hosting a cage fight Sunday at the White House on his 80th birthday -- said Vice President JD Vance would represent the United States.

The US leader's claim came just hours after he promised fresh strikes against Iran, before calling them off. There was no confirmation from Iran, and Trump revealed few concrete details about what each side had agreed to.

By Hritam Mukherjee, Nidhi Verma and Saurabh Sharma

NEW DELHI, June 11 (Reuters) - Three Indian sailors died in a U.S. military strike on a tanker off Oman as part of Washington’s efforts to blockade Iran-linked shipping, India said on Thursday, after summoning a U.S. diplomat to demand an end to such attacks.

The deaths are the first reported since the blockade began on April 13, operations which have seen the U.S. disable eight ships and turn back more than 100 others.

By Samia Nakhoul, Maya Gebeily, Tom Perry and Laila Bassam

BEIRUT, June 11 (Reuters) - Iran is waging a calculated campaign to preserve Lebanon as its last bastion of influence on the Mediterranean, tying the country's fate to a grand bargain with Washington as it seeks to end Hezbollah's war with Israel on its own terms, not Beirut's.

That effort is colliding with a historic U.S.-sponsored negotiating track between Lebanon and Israel aimed at ending decades of conflict along their frontier and redefining the balance of power in a country long caught between regional foes.

Iran's national football team walked out of their hotel in Tijuana to cheers on Wednesday, with Mexican supporters hoping to lift the spirits of a side whose World Cup campaign has been partly overshadowed by war.

"Vamos Iran! Vamos Iran!" chanted around 30 fans, who asked Iranian footballers for autographs as though they were supporting their own national team.

Jose Leyva, a 28-year-old pizzeria worker, waited several hours by the fence to get a signature from Mehdi Taremi, Iran's star striker.

By Jana Winter

ABOARD FBI JET, June 11 (Reuters) - With 48 teams, 36 base camps and 11 stadiums, the World Cup, which kicks off on Thursday, is one of the biggest security challenges the FBI has ever faced.

That'sbeforeyouaccount for 3 million visitors, including heads of state, not to mention threats from drones, spies, terrorists, drunken fans,cartelsor pyrotechnics.

"It's a huge lift, probably the biggest lift in FBI history, in American history," said FBI Director Kash Patel in a mid-flight interview aboard the bureau's Gulfstream jet.

JERUSALEM, June 11 (Reuters) - Israel is expected to approve on Thursday the allocation of 1 billion shekels ($337.8 million) to build new settlements and connect them to infrastructure in the occupied West Bank, Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said.

The plan is being promoted by Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, a proponent of Israeli settlement expansion who has said he wants to bury the idea of Palestinian statehood.