WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - A direct communications channel between U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has been reactivated in recent days, Axios reported on Monday, citing a U.S. official and a source with knowledge of the matter.

Axios said it was not clear how substantive the messages passed between Araghchi and Witkoff had been, adding it was the first known direct communication between the parties since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran.

Bangladeshi migrant Ahmad Ali, 55, was doing his regular round delivering drinking water to residents in the United Arab Emirates when Iran launched its first retaliatory attacks against Gulf countries.

Debris from a missile strike tore through his delivery van, killing him instantly and ending his three decades spent in the Emirates.

"My dad told my cousin he would be back soon," Ali's son Abdul Hoque said from Barlekha in eastern Bangladesh. "But those were his last words. He died instantly when his van was hit."

In southern Lebanon's Ain Ebel, close to the border with Israel, Suad Jallad holds a poster of her son, killed by Israel last week, saying she would rather be buried next to him than leave.

Ain Ebel, a village filled with red-riled roofs and surrounded by olive groves, is one of few Christian villages in the Bint Jbeil district whose residents refuse to evacuate, insisting they are not a party to the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

President Donald Trump is pressuring allies to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime choke point that has effectively been closed by Iran in response to the US-Israeli war launched last month.

Trump highlighted the dangers in remarks on Monday, noting that a "single terrorist" could "put something in the water" or shoot a missile at ships transiting the narrow waterway bordering the Islamic republic.

Trump said a number of countries that he did not specify had committed to help, while taking aim at others that were not "enthusiastic" about doing so.

Here are the latest economic events in the Middle East war on Monday:

- Stocks rise as oil prices cool -

Global markets mostly rose as oil prices pulled back, with investors focused on the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf waterway through which a fifth of global crude oil passes, where traffic has been severely disrupted by the war.

International benchmark Brent North Sea crude dropped 2.8 percent to $100.21, while the main US contract West Texas Intermediate fell 5.3 percent to $93.50.

- Drone strike sparks UAE oil field fire -

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping could be postponed as the U.S. president remains focused on the Iran war, the White House said on Monday.

Any delay in Trump's scheduled March 31 to April 2 China trip risks magnifying tensions between Washington and Beijing, as the Iran crisis has joined trade and Taiwan among the spectrum of issues separating the world's two biggest economies.

JERUSALEM, March 16 (Reuters) - Shrapnel from ballistic missiles fired by Iran and debris from the Israeli interceptors that shot them down fell on Monday around Jerusalem's walled Old City and some of its most sacred Christian, Muslim and Jewish sites, Israeli police said.

There were no casualties or major damage reported at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the nearby hilltop plateau known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa compound and to Jews as Temple Mount, a flashpoint site that is holy to both faiths.

BRUSSELS, March 16 (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers showed "no appetite" to expand an EU naval mission in the Middle East to the Strait of Hormuz for the time being, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called on other nationsto help police the strait after Iran responded to U.S.-Israeli attacks by using drones, missiles and mines to ‌effectively close thechannelfor tankers that normally transport a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.

By Maggie Michael

TEHRAN, March 16 (Reuters) - As gravediggers prepared new burial plots for those killed in the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, Marzia Razaei wept for her son Arfan Shamei, who died in a blast at a military training camp days before he was due home on leave.

The war that began on February 28 with a blitz of air strikes on Tehran and other cities has killed more than 1,300 Iranians so far, according to Iranian officials, and plunged the Middle East into crisis.

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday that he believes Iran wants to make a deal to end the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Tehran but that it is unclear who is actually leading Iran.

"We don't know who their leader is. We have people wanting to negotiate. We have no idea who they are," Trump told reporters during a White House event.