Iran is banking on the Strait of Hormuz as its main card in any peace negotiations with the United States, but using the waterway as leverage is not without risk for the Islamic republic.

Iran had for decades talked up the threat of blocking the strait, which is a critical chokepoint for global energy supplies.

With the US and Israel launching a surprise war on Iran on February 28 and killing supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran finally made good on those threats and brought the vital waterway to a standstill.

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - Vice President JD Vance is still in the United States and has not yet departed for Pakistan, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, as prospects for a second round of negotiations with Iran remain unclear.

President Donald Trump has said he would send a U.S. delegation to Pakistan for additional talks before a ceasefire is set to expire in the coming days. Iran is considering attending the peace talks, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday, but no decision had been made.

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - The Iranian-flagged container ship Touska, which was boarded and seized by U.S. forces on Sunday, is likely to have what Washington deems dual-use items that could be used by the military onboard, maritime security sources said on Monday.

By Julia Payne and John Irish

BRUSSELS/PARIS, April 20 (Reuters) - The European Union will expand the criteria of its Iran sanctions to include those responsible for blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely shut for nearly two months upending global energy and commodities markets, two EU diplomats said.

Tehran effectively closed the strait after ​U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, cutting off roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday that Israel did not persuade him to attack Iran, after news reports that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu influenced the U.S. president's decision and criticism from right-wing commentators.

"Israel never talked me into the war with Iran, the results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Traffic once again seized up in the Strait of Hormuz as both Tehran and Washington imposed separate blockades, with Iranian vessels continuing to test the US shutdown, tracking data showed Monday.

Iran announced on Friday that it would reopen the strategic waterway, but the United States did not reciprocate for vessels going to and from Iranian ports.

Dozens of commercial vessels passed through the strait before Iran reclosed the passage on Saturday, later warning that any approaching ship would be treated as a target.

Israel says it has established a "Yellow Line" in south Lebanon near the border, where its forces are operating despite a 10-day ceasefire with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

What is the so-called "Yellow Line", how does it resemble an Israeli military demarcation in the Gaza Strip and where does it leave Lebanon?

What has Israel announced?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the truce, which took effect on Friday, but would maintain a 10-kilometre (six-mile) deep "security zone" along the border in southern Lebanon.

April 20 (Reuters) - Israeli and Lebanese representatives will hold talks in Washington on Thursday, an Israeli source speaking on the condition of anonymity told Reuters on Monday.

Israel will be represented by its ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, the source added.

It will mark the first talks between the two countries since a 10-day ceasefire took effect on Thursday.

(Reporting by Hatem Maher and Ahmed Elimam in Cairo; and Alexander Cornwell in Jerusalem, Editing by Hugh Lawson)

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO, April 20 (Reuters) - Israeli strikes killed at least two Palestinians in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip on Monday, health officials said, and fighters from Hamas clashed with gunmen from an Israeli-backed militia, witnesses said.

Medics said one man was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Bureij camp in the central area of the enclave, while another strike killed one person and wounded others in Gaza City.

By Pesha Magid

SA-NUR, West Bank, April 20 (Reuters) - A Palestinian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank received demolition orders for 15 shops on Monday a day after Israeli ministers celebrated the reestablishment of a settlement on a neighbouring hill.

Israel's ruling far-right coalition has supported a rapid expansion of settlements and Palestinians have received thousands of demolition orders since the government took power, according to U.N. data.

The release of the latest order was for Al-Fandaqumiya, according to a local official.