Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem urged Lebanon to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington on Tuesday, reiterating his group's rejection of direct negotiations with its foe.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than a million since the Iran-backed group Hezbollah drew the country into the Middle East war.

The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States are scheduled to meet in Washington on Tuesday to discuss holding direct negotiations between the two countries.

ROME, April 13 (Reuters) - A prolonged crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could trigger a global agrifood catastrophe by disrupting fertiliser and energy exports, driving up food prices and squeezing crop yields, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said on Monday.

FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero said poorer countries were most exposed because planting calendars meant delays in access to key inputs could quickly translate into lower output, higher inflation and slower global growth.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, editing by Gavin Jones)

By Helen Coster and Joseph Ax

April 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure on Sunday, drawing widespread criticism even from some religious conservatives who typically support him, before deleting the post on Monday.

BEIJING, April 13 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday said the current ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is "very fragile" and urged the global community to "unequivocally oppose any actions that undermine the ceasefire or escalate the confrontation."

Wang made the remarks during a phone call with his Pakistani counterpart, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Wang's ministry said. The priority is to prevent the resumption of hostilities and "to preserve the hard-won momentum of ceasefire," Wang said.

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Monday that any Iranian "fast-attack" ships that go near a U.S. maritime blockade on Iran would be eliminated.

"What we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, 'fast attack ships,' because we did not consider them much of a threat. Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea. It is quick and brutal," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

BRUSSELS, April 13 (Reuters) - European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is a clear point in favour of a "strong international coalition on maritime security."

She did not specify what such a coalition would do specifically, but added the European Union rejected any arrangement that would limit "the free and safe passage through the straits in accordance with the international law."

She was speaking in a meeting of the United Nations' Security Council in New York.

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, April 13 (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was deeply concerned by attacks on medical workers in Lebanon after a deadly strike on a Red Cross centre in the country on Monday and the death of a volunteer a day earlier.

Lebanon's state news agency reported that Monday's strike, which it said was carried out by Israel, killed one person and damaged Lebanese Red Cross vehicles.

ISLAMABAD, April 13 (Reuters) - Full efforts are still being made to resolve the conflict between the U.S. and Iran, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday, a day after talks between the two sides, held in Islamabad, ended without agreement.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad, writing by Hritam Mukherjee; Editing by YP Rajesh)

Iran's judiciary said Monday authorities had released the assets of the captain of Iranian women's football team which had been seized after she made and then withdrew an asylum claim in Australia last month.

Zahra Ghanbari was among a group of six players and one backroom staff member who sought asylum in Australia in March after playing in the Women's Asian Cup at the start of the Israeli-US war against the Islamic republic.

LONDON/PARIS, April 13 (Reuters) - The United States' NATO allies said on Monday they would not get involved in President Donald Trump's plan to blockade the Strait of Hormuz nL6N40V09S, further ratcheting up tensions within the increasingly fragile alliance.