JD Vance warns Iran ‘not to try and play us’ – Live updates

If you’re just joining the Daily Mail’s coverage of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, here are the most important developments:

• US inflation has risen dramatically since the US began its war against Iran, with American gasoline prices surging more than 20% between February and March.
• JD Vance, shortly before he departed to Pakistan for peace talks, warned Iran not to try and ‘play us.’
• Pope Leo lambasted the ‘ferocious’ spread of ‘absurd and inhuman violence’ that has developed since the outbreak of war.
• Hezbollah’s chief vowed to fight back against Israel ‘as long as there is breath.’

Consumer inflation in the US rose sharply to 3.3% in March, according to government data, as skyrocketing energy prices hit American bank accounts hard.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.3% year-on-year, compared to 2.4% a month prior.

Gasoline prices surged by 21.2% between February and March, the Bureau of Labour Statistics said.

Speaking shortly before his departure to Pakistan from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Vance said of Iran: ‘If they’re gonna try to play us they’re gonna find the negotiating team is not going to be that receptive.

‘The president gave us some pretty clear guidelines.’

An Israeli strike near a government building in the southern Lebanese town on Nabatieh has killed eight people, state media reported.

Czech Airline Smartwings will restart regular flights to Tel Aviv from April 15.

Smartwings said it will operate seven flights per week to Tel Aviv while observing the security situation in Israel and following guidance from authorities.

Following Israel’s decision to expel Spanish personnel from the Civil-Military Coordination Centre (CMCC), Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu accused Madrid of ‘hostility.’

He said in a video message:

Israel will not remain silent in the face of those who attack us.Spain has defamed our heroes, the soldiers of the IDF, the soldiers of the moral army in the world.

Therefore, I have instructed the removal of the Spanish representatives from the coordination center in Kiryat Gat, after Spain has repeatedly chosen to stand against Israel.

Whoever attacks the State of Israel instead of the terrorist regimes, whoever does this, will not be our partner in the future of the region.

I am not willing to tolerate this hypocrisy and this hostility. I do not intend to allow any country to wage a diplomatic war against us without paying an immediate price for it.

The Israeli air force said it has hit more than 120 pieces of ‘terrorist infrastructure’ in southern Lebanon in the last 24 hours.

It added that it ‘continues to assist the ground forces and to strike targets across southern Lebanon under the guidance of our forces.’

Pope Leo has decried the ‘ferocious’ spread of ‘absurd and inhuman violence’ across the Christian East.

He said the region has been ‘profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest.’

The American pope added: ‘No gain can be worth the life of the weakest, children, or families.

‘No cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood.’

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem today vowed the group’s would continue its ‘resistance.. as long as there is breath.’

He said in a statement: ‘The Israeli enemy was defeated on the ground and was unable to carry out a ground invasion.

‘The enemy, in all its aggression, has not succeeded in preventing the missiles.’

Israel has expelled Spain from the US’ Civil-Military Coordination Centre (CMCC) following escalating tensions between the nations.

Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said the move was made in coordination with the US and came from the Spanish government’s ‘blatant anti-Israel bias.’

Sa’ar said: ‘The Sanchez government has such a blatant anti-Israel bias that it has lost all ability to serve as a useful factor in the implementation of [US President Donald] Trump’s peace plan and in the CMCC that operates within the plan.’

The CMCC, which falls under the control of the US Army’s Central Command, was created in October 2025 to oversee the flow of humanitarian, logistical and security assistance to the Gaza Strip under Trump’s Gaza peace deal.

Personnel from militaries all over the world, including the UK, Italy and Australia, work there to coordinate stabilisation efforts in the Gaza Strip.

Naim Qassem, the head of Hezbollah, warned the Lebanese government against giving ‘free concessions’ to Israel ahead of slated talks in the US.

Qassem said in a written message broadcast on Lebanese TV: ‘We will not accept a return to the previous situation, and we call on officials to stop offering free concessions.’

He also denounced the ‘bloody criminality on Wednesday’, referring to Israel’s blitz attack against Lebanon.