Israel's parliament on Monday passed its annual budget in a marathon overnight session, ensuring that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government can complete its term until the fall.

Israel needed to pass a budget before April 1 in order to avoid triggering early elections. Netanyahu still reserves the right to call early elections before then if he wants.

U.S. President Donald Trump openly mused about seizing Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf and the United States and Israel kept up their attacks Monday on the Islamic Republic, even as there were signs of progress in nascent ceasefire talks. Tehran, meanwhile, struck a key water and electrical plant in hard-hit Kuwait, part of its campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states.

As a diplomatic effort being facilitated by Pakistan toward ending the war moved ahead, Trump said Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as "a sign of respect." At the same time, with 2,500 U.S. Marines now in the region and a similar sized contingent on its way, he raised the idea of taking Iran's Kharg Island.

Syria's military said a large-scale drone attack targeted its bases near the border with Iraq on Monday, the latest such incident since the outbreak of the Middle East war.

In a statement, the army reported "a large-scale attack by a number of drones targeting several army bases near the Iraqi border at dawn today", adding that most of the drones were intercepted.

Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Sunday that the United States was plotting a ground attack despite publicly engaging in diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war.

"The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack," Ghalibaf said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

The Revolutionary Guard’s warning on Sunday said it would consider Israeli universities and branches of American universities in the region “legitimate targets,” state media reported.

Top diplomats from key regional powers were gathering in Pakistan on Sunday to discuss how to end the fighting in the Middle East, but there were few signs of progress as Israel and the U.S. kept up strikes on Iran, and Tehran responded by firing missiles and drones across the region.

Pakistan said foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt were participating in the talks in Islamabad. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held "extensive discussions" on regional hostilities.

Iran has agreed to allow humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments through the Strait of Hormuz following a request from the United Nations.

Pakistan said Saturday Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt will send their top diplomats to Islamabad for talks aimed at ending the Iran war.

More than two dozen U.S. troops have been wounded in Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base in the past week, according to two people who have been briefed on the matter.

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile launch toward Israel early Saturday, their first since the war in the Middle East started. The Israeli military said it intercepted the projectile.

The war, now marking its one-month anniversary, erupted after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, which retaliated with strikes against Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states. The conflict has upended global air travel, disrupted oil exports and caused fuel prices to soar. Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway, has also exacerbated the economic fallout of the war.