By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina, Feb 13 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump told U.S. troops on Friday that Iran has been “difficult” in nuclear negotiations and suggested that instilling fear in Tehran may be necessary to resolve the standoff peacefully.

"They've been difficult to make a deal," Trump said of the Iranians before an audience of active-duty soldiers at Fort Bragg Army base in North Carolina after U.S. officials said they were sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

By Feras Dalatey , Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Orhan Qereman and Jonathan Spicer

Feb 13 (Reuters) - A U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement in northeastern Syria leaves thorny questions unresolved, as Kurds seek to retain some authority despite a much weakened hand following the rapid advance of central government forces.

The progress of the deal tests the ability of Syria's new leaders to stabilise a nation fractured by 14 years of war, following several bouts of violence pitting it against minority groups who are suspicious of the Islamist-led government.

KYIV, Feb 13 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he held a meeting with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah and a prominent voice in the opposition, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

"We discussed the importance of strengthening sanctions against the Iranian regime and any other dictatorial regimes," he said on X, adding that they both condemned cooperation between Russia and Iran.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has ended temporary protected status for Yemen, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on Friday, the latest move targeting immigrants.

The decision to end humanitarian protections that grant deportation relief and work permits to more than a thousand Yemeni nationals was taken after determining that it was against the U.S. "national interest", Noem said.

US President Donald Trump said Friday that a change of government in Iran would be the "best thing that could happen," as he sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to ratchet up military pressure on the Islamic republic.

Trump's comments were his most overt call yet for the toppling of Iran's clerical establishment, and came as he pushes on Washington's arch-foe Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear program.

In the Moroccan village of Ouled Salama, 63-year-old farmer Mohamed Reouani waded through his crops, now submerged by floodwaters after days of heavy downpours.

Farmers in the North African kingdom have for the past few years endured severe drought.

But floods have now swamped more than 100,000 hectares of land, wiping out key crops and forcing farmers in the country's northwest to flee with their livestock.

"I have about four or five hectares" of crops, Reouani said. "All of it is gone now."

BEIRUT, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Friday he was committed to holding a parliamentary election as scheduled on May 10, despite calls from some politicians to postpone the vote.

Several politicians have called for a delay, citing security concerns in southern Lebanon, where Israel has carried out air strikes targeting Hezbollah.

Berri, a Shi'ite leader allied with Hezbollah, said in a statement carried by the state-run National News Agency that he had informed President Joseph Aoun and the government of his position.

GENEVA, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Over five million people have returned to Afghanistan from neighbouring states since expulsion policies began in late 2023, prompting the United Nations to warn on Friday that relief efforts are becoming overwhelmed by thousands of daily arrivals.

Afghanistan is contending with a worsening hunger crisis driven by the mass deportations of Afghans from Pakistan and Iran, foreign aid cuts and economic crisis.

Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. military forces have completed their mission in Syria to transfer Islamic State detainees to Iraq, U.S. Central Command said on Friday.

"The 23-day transfer mission began on Jan. 21 and resulted in U.S. forces successfully transporting more than 5,700 adult male ISIS fighters from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody," Central Command said in a statement.

President Emmanuel Macron Friday denounced what he described as an "antisemitic hydra" that had crept into "every crack" of society two decades after Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old French Jewish man, was tortured to death.

To commemorate Halimi, whose abduction and murder in 2006 horrified France, Macron planted an oak tree in the garden of the Elysee Palace, joined by Halimi's sister, Anne-Laure Abitbol.