America's NATO allies put a brave face Monday on a US decision to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, but warned it was proof Europe needs to step up for its own security, and fast.

US President Donald Trump cast fresh doubts over the future of the alliance as he announced Washington was to scale back its largest troops contingent in Europe, after a spat with Berlin over the Iran war.

But, gathered in Yerevan, Armenia, for a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), European leaders and Canada's Mark Carney said they were ready to step up.

By Ilze Filks

OSLO, May 4 (Reuters) - Imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was taken from jail to hospital last week, requires urgent specialised medical care to treat a life-threatening heart condition, her brother told Reuters on Monday.

By Nerijus Adomaitis

OSLO, May 4 (Reuters) - There were no signs of increased vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, a day after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would begin efforts to free up shipping.

Only one tanker, a sanctioned, handy-sized LPG carrier, along with a few cargo ships and a cable-laying vessel passed into the Gulf of Oman on Monday, MarineTraffic data showed.

BEIRUT, May 4 (Reuters) - Lebanon's parliament speaker, who is the most senior Shi'ite politician and a close ally of Hezbollah, said on Monday there could be no negotiations with Israel without a halt to the war that has raged on in southern Lebanon in spite of a ceasefire.

Nabih Berri's comments, made as Israeli forces ordered residents out of four more villages in southern Lebanon, underline challenges facing U.S. efforts to forge peace between the states which held rare, face-to-face talks last month.

DUBAI, May 4 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy issued a new map of the area of the Strait of Hormuz under its control on Monday, state media reported.

The area starts in the west with a line between the westernmost tip of Iran's Qeshm island to the United Arab Emirates' Umm al Quwain emirate. In the east, the area stops at a line between Iran's Mount Mobarak and the UAE's Emirate of Fujairah.

It was not immediately clear if and to what extenct their claimed area of control has changed.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- US destroyers in Hormuz -

US guided-missile destroyers have entered the Gulf as part of a mission to escort ships through the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway, the US military said.

The warships "are currently operating in the Arabian Gulf after transiting the Strait of Hormuz in support of Project Freedom", US Central Command said on X, referring to the operation announced by US President Donald Trump on Sunday.

A ceasefire between Iran and the United States was teetering Monday as the two countries traded fire over the strategic Strait of Hormuz and the United Arab Emirates reported attacks for the first time since the truce was declared nearly a month ago.

A day after President Donald Trump announced an operation to escort trapped vessels through the strait, Fox News quoted him as threatening that Iran would be "blown off the face of the earth" if it attacks US ships.

ISLAMABAD, May 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. has evacuated 22 crew members held aboard an Iranian container vessel to Pakistan and will hand them over to Iranian authorities on Monday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said, calling the move a "confidence-building measure".

Here are some details.

• Iranian-flagged Touska, part of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) that has been hit with sanctions by Washington, was boarded and seized by the U.S. off the coast of Iran's Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman last month.

By Andrew Gray

BRUSSELS, May 4 (Reuters) - European nations have "gotten the message" from U.S. President Donald Trump and are now ensuring that agreements on the use of military bases are being implemented, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday.

Trump has accused some NATO nations of not doing enough to support the United States in the Iran war. In a further sign of his discontent with European allies, the U.S. announced on Friday plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.

Oil prices jumped on Monday after a drone strike sparked a fire at an Emirati energy installation, threatening a fragile US-Iran ceasefire, while US warships entered the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

Seoul and Taipei hit record highs as Asian traders joined the rally in tech shares, but US equity indices retreated from record finishes last week.

Oil prices climbed, with the benchmark international contract Brent crude for July delivery jumping more than five percent, after the drone strike in the emirate of Fujairah.