Iran warns ‘our fingers are on the trigger’: Live updates

Iran’s president has claimed Israel’s incursion into Lebanon is a ‘blatant violation’ of the ceasefire.

In a post on X, Masoud Pezeshkian also claimed Iran will ‘never abandon’ Lebanon and their ‘fingers remain on the trigger’.

He wrote: ‘Israel’s renewed incursion into Lebanon is a blatant violation of the initial ceasefire agreement.

‘This is a dangerous sign of deception and lack of commitment to potential agreements. The continuation of these actions will render negotiations meaningless.

‘Our fingers remain on the trigger. Iran will never abandon its Lebanese sisters and brothers.’

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked his Pakistani counterpart on Thursday to confirm Lebanon’s inclusion in the Iran war ceasefire, a day after Israeli strikes on the country killed more than 200 people.

In a statement, Salam’s office said he phoned Shehbaz Sharif, praising Islamabad’s efforts in securing the truce and asking him to ‘confirm that the ceasefire includes Lebanon to prevent a recurrence of the Israeli attacks witnessed yesterday’.

Israel and the US have said the ceasefire does not include Lebanon, with Israel announcing it would continue its attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the regional war on March 2.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned that Tehran sees Lebanon as an ‘inseparable part of the ceasefire’ and threatened ‘strong responses’, coinciding with mounting international calls for Lebanon to be encompassed in the truce.

Writing on Truth Social in the last few minutes, Donald Trump said: ‘None of these people, including our own, very disappointing, NATO, understood anything unless they have pressure placed upon them!!!’

He has long scrutinised NATO and its relationship with the US, which has only soured since the outbreak of war in late February.

Russian news agency TASS, citing a senior Iranian source, reported that the regime will not allow any more than 15 vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz during the two-week ceasefire.

NATO chief Mark Rutte has told some members of the bloc that Trump wants concrete commitments within the next few days for help securing the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported.

In a video update, the head of US Central Command said the American and Israeli militaries have ‘eliminated’ Iran’s military capabilities.

CENTCOM chief Admiral Brad Cooper said: ‘We set out to dismantle the Iranian regime’s ability to project power beyond its own borders, and we clearly accomplished this task. Iran has suffered a generational military defeat.

‘The United States and Israel systematically destroyed Iran’s ability to conduct large-scale military operations for years to come.’

He added: ‘Iran’s conventional military capability, built over 40 years at the cost of billions of dollars, has been eliminated.’

The top military official said: ‘After successfully conducting more than 13,000 strikes on Iranian military targets and flying thousands upon thousands of combat flights, US forces have paused offensive operations in accordance with the ongoing ceasefire.

‘However, we remain present, we remain vigilant, and we remain ready if called,” he says, adding that the American military also continues “to stand shoulder to shoulder with our regional partners in maintaining the most sophisticated and largest active air defence umbrella in the world.’

Dr Muhammad Faisal, Pakistan’s high commissioner in London, told the BBC that he is very confident that representatives from both the US and Iran will make an appearance in Islamabad this weekend, despite fraying relations.

He claimed the US-Iran ceasefire is holding ‘reasonably well’ despite alleged violations.

Faisal also insisted that the ceasefire agreement covered Lebanon, which the US has consistently denied.

He admitted there was a ‘lot of distance’ between the US and Iran, and did not confirm whether both sides would meet face-to-face this weekend.

UK defence secretary John Healey today said at a press conference: ‘I’m pretty clear that Putin would want us to be distracted by the Middle East.’

He added: ‘What I’m setting out today demonstrates that we are not just exposing his covert operation, but we are saying to him that we recognise Russia as the primary threat to the UK and to NATO, and that we will not take our eyes off Putin, whilst at the same time we act to protect our British interests and our British allies in the Middle East.’

Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, has warned that violations of the truce will ‘carry explicit costs and STRONG responses.’

He added: ‘Lebanon and the entire Resistance Axis, as Iran’s allies, form an inseparable part of the ceasefire.

‘[Pakistani] PM Shehbaz Sharif publicly and clearly stressed the Lebanon issue; there is no room for denial and backtracking.’

The criminal trial of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to continue on Sunday after weeks of delays because of the war.

A hearing is scheduled for Sunday at 9:30am in the Jerusalem District Court.

The Israeli PM is standing trial accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection with three separate cases. He denies wrongdoing.

Trump has repeatedly urged Israel’s president Isaac Herzog to drop the cases against Netanyahu.