By Rami Ayyub

JERUSALEM, May 25 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told confidants in private conversations that Israel has little ability to influence Donald Trump's decision-making on Iran as the U.S. president negotiates a deal in the nearly three-month-old war, two sources said.

Netanyahu's comments, described to Reuters by two Israeli officials with knowledge of the conversations, come as Israel has largely been left out of talks to reach an initial deal to halt a war that began with joint U.S.-Israeli bombardment.

Being in Mecca has been nothing short of blissful for Hassan Qadiri, where participating in the festivities of the hajj pilgrimage is a welcome relief after weeks of devastating war back home in Iran.

Qadiri and his family took cover as intense Israeli and American bombing raids targeted his native city of Isfahan in central Iran until an April ceasefire began.

"We hear the call to prayer every day, not explosions here," Qadiri told AFP.

"I'm very happy."

May 25 (Reuters) - Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday that conclusions have been reached on many topics discussed in a potential memorandum of understanding with the U.S., but this does not mean Tehran is close to signing an agreement.

The spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, added that Iran is negotiating an end to the war and is not currently discussing nuclear issues, and repeated that changes in the positions of U.S. officials create problems for any agreement.

(Reporting by Elwely Elwelly and Tala Ramadan; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

DUBAI, May 25 (Reuters) - Iran's top negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, has been reelected as the country's parliamentary speaker, semi-official Fars news agency reported on Monday.

(Reporting by Elwely Elwelly;Editing by Alison Williams)

Marco Rubio leads US foreign policy as diplomacy on Iran goes down to the wire, but he is also making time for cultural attractions as divergent as the Taj Mahal and the Village People.

Rubio, who serves as President Donald Trump's secretary of state and national security advisor, took a day for sightseeing in India on Monday, touring the Taj Mahal, the renowned monument to love.

"It's one of the wonders of the world," Rubio said of the imposing mausoleum in Agra.

"I think it's important to show respect to the culture of the countries that you visit."

The Israeli army intensified strikes in southern Lebanon on Monday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to escalate its offensive in an effort to "crush" Hezbollah.

The airstrikes come as the United States and Iran seek to finalise the terms of an agreement to end the Middle East conflict, which could include the Lebanon front, where Israel and Hezbollah have waged war since March 2.

Despite a ceasefire that came into effect on April 17, Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire on a near-daily basis.

Over 1.5 million Muslims began filling a vast tent city in the holy city of Mecca on Monday for an annual hajj pilgrimage carried out against the backdrop of hopes for an end to the war in the Middle East.

The white-robed pilgrims on buses or on foot arrived at the sprawling encampment in Mina after performing the "tawaf" -- walking seven times around the Kaaba, the giant black cube at Mecca's Grand Mosque.

(Corrects name of political analyst in seventh paragraph)

By Xinghui Kok and Greg Torode

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, May 25 (Reuters) - War in Iran, strained U.S. commitments in Asia and rising tensions over Taiwan will likely dominate the agenda at this week's annual Shangri-La Dialogue, the region's premier defence forum.

The free-wheeling informal gathering, running from May 29 to 31, draws an eclectic mix of ministers, generals, intelligence chiefs, diplomats, analysts and weapons makers for carefully worded speeches and frank exchanges behind polished hotel doors.

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, May 25 (Reuters) - The United States will either have a good agreement with Iran or deal with the country "another way," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday, as Washington played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough in the three-month-old war.

Rubio told reporters in New Delhi that the U.S. would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before exploring "alternatives", after President Donald Trump said on Sunday he had told his representatives not to rush into any Iran deal.

Born to landless Indian farmers, Sunil Pooniya thought a job at sea would be his ticket out of poverty, instead his first voyage saw him diving into the ocean to escape a deadly attack driven by the Iran war.

For hundreds of thousands of Indians, merchant shipping jobs are a lucrative proposition despite the inherent risks.

The attack on Pooniya's ship killed two fellow Indians -- the country's sailors are among the highest merchant maritime casualties from the Middle East war.