Thousands of Iranians gathered Wednesday in Tehran for the funeral of the Revolutionary Guards' naval commander, killed in an Israeli strike, with mourners vowing to fight to the end despite tough talk from Washington.

The procession took place on the 47th anniversary of the Islamic republic, proclaimed on April 1, 1979, after the revolution that overthrew the last shah and ended more than 2,500 years of monarchy.

But this year, the public holiday carried particular weight, as Tehran fights for survival under relentless US-Israeli bombardment since February 28.

PARIS, April 1 (Reuters) - China will at one point have to engage more directly on how to restore oil traffic flows in the Strait of Hormuz because the number of vessels it has going through is probably insufficient, France's navy chief said on Wednesday.

By Andrea Shalal and Ruchika Khanna

April 1 (Reuters) - The heads of the International Energy Agency, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank on Wednesday said they will form a coordination group to maximize their response to the significant economic and energy impacts of the war in the Middle East.

In a joint statement, the three global bodies noted that the war had caused major disruptions in the region and triggered one of the largest supply shortages in global energy market history.

By Samia Nakhoul

DUBAI, April 1 (Reuters) - If President Donald Trump ends the war with Iran without a deal, he risks leaving Tehran with a stranglehold over Middle East energy supplies and Gulf Arab oil and gas producers grappling with the fallout of a conflict they did not start or shape.

Instead of crushing Iran's theocratic rulers, it could leave them stronger, emboldened by surviving weeks of U.S.-Israeli attacks, firing on Arab Gulf states and rattling global energy markets by effectively shutting the Strait of Hormuz.

By Nazih Osseiran and Maya Gebeily

April 1 (Reuters) - Thousands of Christians still living in a cluster of towns along Lebanon's southern border say they are trapped and terrified after an Israeli military advance nearby triggered the withdrawal of Lebanese troops from the area.

Residents of Rmeich, Ain Ebel and Debel had stayed in place despite Israel's mass evacuation orders for southern Lebanon, hoping their hometowns would be spared despite the expanding conflict between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance communicated with intermediaries from Pakistan about the Iran conflict as recently as Tuesday, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters, a sign of his expanding role in efforts to broker an end to the conflict.

At President Donald Trump's direction, Vance signaled privately that Trump was open to a ceasefire as long as certain U.S. demands were met, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the source told Reuters on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that the United States was nearing victory in Iran as he laid out his case more than a month into a war that has sent his approval rating tumbling.

In an evening speech from the White House, Trump broke little new ground on how the war would end and vowed two to three weeks further of "extremely hard" strikes against Iran.

"We are going to finish the job, and we're going to finish it very fast. We're getting very close," he said in remarks that largely rehashed his daily streams of social-media postings and rapid media interviews.

April 1 (Reuters) - Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said U.S. President Donald Trump's statement on Iran requesting a ceasefire was false and baseless, Iranian state TV reported on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah)

By John Irish

PARIS, April 1 (Reuters) - France hit back on Wednesday at threats by President Donald Trump to pull the U.S. out of NATO, saying the military alliance was designed to ensure security in the Euro-Atlantic area and not to launch offensive operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

By Mushtaq Ali and Sayed Hassib

PESHAWAR, Pakistan/Kabul, April 1 (Reuters) - Afghanistan and Pakistan have opened a new round of talks in China to end the deadliest fighting between two Muslim nations since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, sources said on Wednesday.

Beijing has been trying to mediate a negotiated settlement to the conflict, which has claimed heavy losses on both sides, although many more on the Afghanistan side, since Pakistan launched air strikes in late February.