Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah on Thursday claimed casualties on both sides as Lebanon said it would complain to the United Nations Security Council over Israeli attacks.

In a sign of divisions, Lebanese ministers from Hezbollah and its ally Amal boycotted a cabinet session over the government decision this week to declare the Iranian ambassador persona non grata, as demonstrators rallied in support of Iran outside its embassy in Beirut.

By Mohammed Ghobari and Emma Farge

ADEN/GENEVA, March 26 - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, whose attacks on the Red Sea caused international shipping and trade chaos during the Gaza war, stands ready to strike the key waterway again in solidarity with Tehran, one Houthi leader told Reuters, a move that would deepen a global oil and economic crisis brought on by the Middle East war.

March 26 (Reuters) - The United States, Israel and Iran have laid out maximalist positions to end warfare that has set the Middle East aflame and threatened the global economy by choking off Gulf energy supplies.

This is what the sides are saying about their positions in the conflict in which the U.S. and Israel have launched airstrikes on Iran since February 28 and Iran has carried out strikes against Israel, U.S. bases and Gulf states.

WHAT ARE THE AMERICANS SAYING?

U.S. President Donald Trump has passed a 15-point plan to Iran via Pakistan.

Iran's decision to rebuff a 15-point peace proposal from US President Donald Trump and outline its own conditions for a ceasefire reflects growing confidence in its negotiating position after nearly four weeks of war, analysts say.

Despite US-Israeli airstrikes that have killed its top leaders and inflicted huge material damage, Iran's governing system remains in place and it retains the ability to fire missiles and drones at its neighbours and Israel.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 (Reuters) - Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Thursday he had spoken to the leaders of Iran, Egypt, Turkey and other regional countries and said Malaysian vessels were now being allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Anwar in a televised address thanked Iran's president for allowing the passage of Malaysian ships.

"We are now in the process of releasing the Malaysian oil tankers and the workers involved so that they may continue their journey home," he said.

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, March 26 (Reuters) - Israel has said it will seize a chunk of southern Lebanon to create a "buffer zone" against Hezbollah militants, stoking fears among Lebanese of Israeli military occupation that could deepen instability and stoke further displacement.

WHAT HAS ISRAEL DONE, AND WHAT IS IT PLANNING?

By Michele Kambas

LIMASSOL, Cyprus, March 26 (Rtrs) - The Iran conflict is causing a rise in tourist cancellations and a dive in new bookings in Cyprus and to a lesser extent other countries whose economies relyheavily on summer visitors.

The U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, just as Cyprus's tourism industry was reopening after winter. Then on March 2, as Iran launched a series of counter-strikes, a drone struck a British naval base on the island, triggering a wave of touristcancellations.

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, March 26 (Reuters) - The head of the World Trade Organization said on Thursday the multilateral system has fundamentally changed and that countries must look to the future to consider how to reform the global trade system.

"The world order and multilateral system we used to know has irrevocably changed. We will not get it back...We must look to the future," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told delegates at the opening of the 14th WTO ministerial conference in Yaounde, Cameroon.

MOSCOW, March 26 (Reuters) - Russia is in contact with the United States about a new round of talks on a Ukraine peace settlement as soon as conditions allow, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

"We remain open, we are in contact with the Americans, and we are counting on holding the next round of talks as soon as circumstances permit," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov rejected the thesis of a New York Times opinion piece that said the Iran war had caused President Vladimir Putin to lose interest in negotiating an end to the Ukraine conflict.

BRUSSELS, March 26 (Reuters) - NATO's European allies and Canada increased defence spending by 20% in 2025 compared to the previous year in real terms, alliance chief Mark Rutte said in his annual report published Thursday, urging NATO members to keep up the momentum.

"I expect Allies at the next NATO Summit in Ankara to show they are on a clear and credible path towards the 5% objective," he wrote, adding that "a strong transatlantic bond remains essential in an age of global uncertainty".