Trump says Iranian regime ‘only alive so it can negotiate’ – LIVE

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.’

The Israeli Defence Force has said today that the airstrikes it carried out in Lebanon two days earlier killed more than 180 Hezbollah militants.

‘Following an initial intelligence assessment… it can be determined that the IDF eliminated more than 180 militants from the Hezbollah terrorist organisation. The count is still ongoing,’ the military said.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday received a phone call from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who praised Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts to facilitate a US.-Iran ceasefire and to host peace talks in Islamabad.

A statement from Sharif’s office said both leaders stressed the importance of ensuring the ceasefire holds and of creating conditions for lasting peace and stability in the region.

Flames and smoke engulf part of the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Lebanese State Security Center, in the Southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on April 10 2026.

People mourn around the bodies of victims killed earlier this week by Israeli airstrikes in Abbasiyeh, during their funeral in Tyre on April 10, 2026.

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanon village of Bent Jbeil, seen from the Israeli side of the border on 10 April 2026, as the Israeli military continued its targeting operations in southern Lebanon

A partially destroyed building targeted by an Israeli air strike, during a press tour organised by the Hezbollah media office, in the Hay el-Sellom neighbourhood, the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, 10 April 2026

A man uses a broom to sweep broken glass inside a classroom at an elementary school, near a Byzantine church, which was damaged after a barrage of projectiles was launched towards Israel from Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, in Nahariya, northern Israel, April 10, 2026

An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh has killed 13 State Security personnel.

‘This painful loss only strengthens our determination to achieve a ceasefire that will protect Lebanon and our people in the south,’ Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in a statement.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said ‘enemy warplanes launched a series of heavy strikes’ on Nabatiyeh on Friday.

Israel has reported 30 rockets from Hezbollah into Israel on Friday.

Donald Trump has said the only reason Iranians ‘are alive today’ is to negotiate, ahead of talks in Pakistan.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, the US president said: ‘The Iranians don’t seem to realise they have no cards, other than a short-term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate! President DONALD J. TRUMP’

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi stressed in a call on Friday with Tehran’s incoming ambassador to Beirut the need to halt Israeli attacks on Lebanon and called on Washington ‘to adhere to its commitments in this regard,’ according to a post on Araghchi’s Telegram channel.

Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf claimed in a social media post today that two of the mutually agreed-upon points between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of blocked Iranian assets ahead of the negotiations.

‘These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin,’ he wrote. He did not elaborate.

Iran has not yet said who it will send to the ceasefire talks in Pakistan that are expected to start Saturday.

Donald Trump has threatened to hit Iran with the strongest round of attack yet if peace talks fail.

The US President said American warships are being reloaded with weaponry to strike Iran if discussions in Pakistan fail to produce a deal.

He told the New York Post: ‘We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made – even better than what we did previously and we blew them apart.’

‘And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively.’

In a brief and cryptic message on his Truth Social network earlier, Trump had spoken of the “WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL RESET!!!”

Vice President JD Vance headed to Islamabad on Friday to lead the US delegation in this weekend’s talks with Iran, with a warning to Tehran not to ‘play’ Washington.

Benjamin Netanyahu has asked to postpone giving testimony in his corruption trial that is set to resume on Sunday after a wartime pause.

‘Due to classified security and diplomatic reasons connected… to the dramatic events that have taken place in the State of Israel and throughout the Middle East in recent times, the prime minister will not be able to testify in the proceeding for at least the next two weeks,’ the filing to the Jerusalem District Court said.

Netanyahu denies charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Kuwait’s army said it had engaged with seven Iranian drones over the last 24 hours.

It said the attacks targeted vital facilities affiliated with the National Guard, in a post on X.

The post did not mention the number of injuries, adding only that they were in stable condition.

The attacks resulted in ‘significant material damage’.

Kuwait earlier had said it faced a drone attack Thursday night that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region.

Iran’s IRGC denied launching an assault.