US President Donald Trump is ready to "unleash hell" if Iran does not accept a deal to end the nearly four-week Middle East war, the White House warned Wednesday, but a defiant Tehran said it did not intend to negotiate.

The ramped-up rhetoric dashed hopes of any imminent de-escalation as violence on the ground showed no sign of abating, with Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all coming under fire.

March 25 (Reuters) - The United States is negotiating with itself, an Iranian military spokesman said according to state media on Wednesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said Tehran wants to make a deal to end the war in the Middle East.

A 15-point plan aimed at putting an end to the conflict was drafted by Washington and sent to Tehran, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

(Fixes typo in headline, no change to text)

CAIRO/WASHINGTON March 25 (Reuters) - Israel struck the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday, Israeli military and Iranian media said, as President Donald Trump said the U.S. was making progress in its efforts to negotiate an end to the war, with reports of a 15-point plan sent to Tehran.

Disruptions to fertiliser supplies caused by the Middle East war pose a double threat to global food security through scarcity and high prices, a top World Trade Organization official has warned.

Iran has virtually shut the Strait of Hormuz, choking a vital transit route for oil and gas -- as well as fertilisers.

A third of the world's fertilisers normally transit the strait, and the disruption has prompted multiple warnings about the impact on food production.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said negotiations with Israel under fire would amount to "surrender", as the Iran-backed group launched attacks and Israel said it was expanding a "buffer zone" inside Lebanon.

Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon for around two decades until 2000, has kept up strikes on its northern neighbour and sent ground troops to take control of a strip up to the Litani River, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border.

BEIJING, March 24 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Tuesday on parties to seize all opportunities to start peace talks as soon as possible in a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi, according to a statement from Wang's ministry.

Talking is always better than fighting, Wang told Araqchi, adding that "all hotspot issues should be resolved through dialogue and negotiation, not by using force".

According to Iranian state media on Wednesday, Araqchi had responded by saying:

March 24 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday evening, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Starmer reiterated support for Saudi Arabia during the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, and updated the Saudi crown prince on the deployment of further UK defensive military equipment, the spokesperson said.

"Iran's ongoing attacks, including on critical national infrastructure, were appalling," Starmer said.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it would keep hitting Iran's ability to make and launch missiles, as more than a dozen people were injured during Iranian attacks throughout the day.

A woman was also killed in northern Israel following rocket fire from Lebanon, where Israeli forces are fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah.

By late Tuesday, the Israeli military had issued 12 alerts warning of incoming Iranian missiles since midnight.

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY, March 24 (Reuters) - Pope Leo expressed concern on Tuesday about a rising tenor of animosity in the expanding Iran war, repeating calls for a ceasefire amid reports the U.S. is planning to send thousands of soldiers to the Middle East in a military buildup.

Leo, the first U.S. pope, lamented that "hatred is increasing, and the violence is getting worse and worse."

March 24 (Reuters) - Colombia's attorney general on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for the top leadership of the Segunda Marquetalia rebel group over the 2025 assassination of senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe.

The warrants target seven individuals, including veteran guerrilla leaders Ivan Luciano Marin Arango and Gener Garcia Molina, better known by their aliases Ivan Marquez and Jhon 40, respectively, for their alleged roles in what authorities termed a "magnicide" aimed at destabilizing the country's democracy.