- No Trump apology -

US President Donald Trump said he had "nothing to apologise for" after criticising Pope Leo XIV's calls for an end to the conflict in the Middle East.

"Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran," said Trump, adding that the US-born pope was "very weak on crime and other things."

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned Trump's criticism of Leo as "unacceptable".

- Trump: Iran wants a deal -

Trump said Iranian representatives had called to make a peace deal after talks in Pakistan ended at the weekend without agreement.

"I can tell you that we've been called by the other side. They'd like to make a deal. Very badly, very badly," he told reporters outside the Oval Office, without identifying which officials had called.

- Israel hits 150 Hezbollah targets -

Israel's military said Monday that it had struck around 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, as the country prepares for peace talks with Lebanese officials in Washington.

"In the past 24 hours, approximately 150 Hezbollah terrorist organisation targets were struck in numerous areas across southern Lebanon," the military said, adding that the targets included "military structures, anti-tank missile launch points, and terror command centers".

- US to destroy Iran 'attack ships' -

Trump said US forces would destroy any Iranian "fast attack ships" that approach the American naval blockade of Iranian ports that came into effect on Monday.

"Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED," he said on his Truth Social network, adding that the rest of Iran's navy had been "completely obliterated."

The US military would be "using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea," the president said, referring to airstrikes on alleged narcotics boats off the coast of Venezuela.

Trump also said 34 ships had crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, adding it was the most since the war began.

- Blockade begins -

The deadline set by US President Donald Trump for a naval blockade of Iranian ports has passed.

The US military announced Sunday it will begin blockading all Iranian Gulf ports on Monday at 1400 GMT, but will allow ships not coming or going to Iran to pass through the strait.

- Pakistan: truce 'holding' -

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said a ceasefire between the United States and Iran was "holding" and that efforts were underway to reach an agreement after weekend talks failed to do so.

"The ceasefire is still holding and, as I speak, full efforts are underway to resolve the outstanding issues," Sharif told a cabinet meeting in brief televised remarks.

- Qatar urges US, Iran mediation -

Qatar's foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart that Iran and the United States should engage positively with mediation efforts.

In a call with Abbas Araghchi, Qatari Foreign Minister and Premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani "emphasised the need to open maritime routes, guarantee freedom of navigation, and refrain from using them as a tool for pressure or bargaining".

- Hormuz blockade questioned -

The head of the UN maritime agency said no country had a legal right to block shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a trade passage paralysed by the US-Iran war.

"In accordance to international law, no countries have the right to prohibit the right of innocent passage or the freedom of navigation through international straits that are used for international transit," the International Maritime Organization's Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez told a news conference.

- Russia pulls atomic staff -

Russia has withdrawn almost all its staff from Iran's sole nuclear power plant, built and operated with help from Moscow, the head of Russia's atomic energy agency said.

"We began the final rotation at the Bushehr station," Rosatom's Alexei Likhachev said, adding that 108 people were evacuated while just 20 -- top managers and those responsible for equipment safety -- remained at the station.

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