- Iran warns US ships, soldiers -

Hardliner Mohsen Rezaei, a top military adviser to Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, warned Wednesday that Iran would take ground-invading US soldiers hostage and sink American ships enforcing a military blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping waterway for oil, gas and other Gulf exports.

Battleships in the US armada "can definitely be exposed to our missiles and we can destroy them," Rezaei, a former commander-in-chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who was named as a military adviser by Khamenei last month, told state TV.

Rezaei added it would be "great" if Washington launched a ground invasion of Iran as "we would take thousands of hostages and then for each hostage we would get a billion dollars."

- Fresh oil sanctions -

United States officials issued new sanctions against Iran, targeting more than two dozen people involved in oil transport, along with companies and ships that operate within the network of petroleum shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.

"Treasury is moving aggressively with 'Economic Fury' by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Shamkhani is the son of security official Ali Shamkhani, an advisor to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, both of whom were killed February 28, the first day of US-Israeli attacks and the start of the Middle East war.

- Growing hunger fears -

The conflict in the Middle East could push millions more toward hunger as its economic fallout reverberates around the globe, the World Bank's chief economist told AFP.

"You have about 300 million people who suffer from acute food insecurity already," Indermit Gill said. "That'll go up by about 20 percent very, very quickly" as knock-on effects grow.

- Wall Street records -

Major Wall Street stock indices finished at records Wednesday, extending an upward climb on optimism about an accord in the US-Iran conflict.

- 'Identical' goals -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel and the US are fully aligned in their objectives to contain Iran.

"We want to see enriched material removed from Iran; we want to see the elimination of enrichment capability within Iran; and, of course, we want to see the (Hormuz) strait reopened," he said in a televised speech.

- End of Hezbollah -

Netanyahu said the country's top priority was to secure the "dismantling" of Hezbollah in its first direct talks with Lebanon in decades.

"There are two central objectives: first, the dismantling of Hezbollah; second, a sustainable peace... achieved through strength," he said.

- Round two of talks -

The United States is discussing holding a second round of peace talks with Iran and is optimistic about reaching a deal, the White House said.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that further talks "would very likely" be in Islamabad.

- Israel army chief orders 'Hezbollah kill zone' -

Israel's military chief of staff said he had ordered areas south of Lebanon's Litani River to be turned into a Hezbollah "kill zone" as troops pressed a major offensive there.

- China supports 'momentum' of peace talks -

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart that Beijing "supports maintaining the momentum of the ceasefire and peace talks."

- US says it blocks 10 vessels from Iran ports -

The US military's Middle East command CENTCOM said it had stopped 10 vessels from sailing out of Iranian ports during the first 48 hours of a naval blockade against the Islamic republic.

But ship tracking data indicated at least three ships sailing from Iranian ports crossed the Strait of Hormuz, though some vessels taking the route later turned back.

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