U.S. President Donald Trump’s prime-time address at 9 p.m. EDT offers an update on the progress made toward achieving his goals in the war with Iran, which are to destroy the country’s missile production and Navy, ensure its proxies can no longer destabilize the region and guarantee Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.
Trump earlier Wednesday claimed Iran’s president wanted a ceasefire ahead of his speech to the American people. Trump made the claim on his Truth Social website. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Trump’s remarks were “false and baseless.”
The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush is slated to go to the Middle East along with three destroyers, two U.S. officials said. The carrier strike group consists of more than 6,000 sailors. It comes as thousands of soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division have also begun arriving in the Middle East, according to two other U.S. officials, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.
Meanwhile, U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the Iran war continues to push fuel prics higher worldwide. Analysts say those high fuel costs will trickle into groceries as businesses’ transportation and packaging costs pile up.
Here is the latest:
‘We’re there to help our allies’: Trump once again shifts reasoning for Iran war
Trump and members of his administrations have cited many reasons and rationales for why the U.S. joined Israel on Feb. 28 in launching a war against Iran. In his first address to the nation since the start of the Iran war, Trump says the military action is not for getting any of the country’s vast resources, including oil, but instead to help America’s allies.
“We’re now totally independent of the Middle East, and yet we are there to help,” he said. “We don’t have to be there. We don’t need their oil. We don’t need anything they have.”
But, he added, “we’re there to help our allies.”
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Trump begins address on Iran commending ‘swift, decisive, overwhelming victories’
Speaking in the Cross Hall at the White House, Trump said Wednesday night that Operation Epic Fury’s actions over the past month meant that Iran’s “ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces.”
Trump also said that the country’s “navy is gone, their air force is in ruins,” and the country’s leaders, “are now dead.”
He also said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “is being decimated as we speak.”
Trump says he’s not sure people in the US ‘have the patience’ for Iran war to continue
In his private remarks at an Easter lunch at the White House, the president seemed to reflect the domestic pressure he’s feeling to wrap up the war. He said that the U.S. could “very easily” take Iran’s oil but said it “is unfortunate” that there did not seem to be patience among the American people for such an effort.
“They want to see it end,” he said.
Trump said he would prefer to take Iran’s oil “but people in the country sort of say, ‘Just win. You’re winning so big. Just win. Come home.’ And I’m OK with that too,” he said.
Video of the speech was posted online by a Business Insider reporter who said he noticed the White House had uploaded video of the closed-press event and downloaded it before it was later made private. The White House did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press on why it took the video down.
United Arab Emirates warns public early Thursday about a missile threat from Iran
A series of blasts could be heard in Dubai as air defenses worked to intercept the Iranian barrage.
The attack happened just before U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech to the American people about the war.
Trump says China, Japan and South Korea should also be involved in opening the Strait of Hormuz
The president has previously directed much of his anger at NATO allies for their reluctance to get involved in securing the Strait of Hormuz until the U.S. and Israel finish prosecuting their war against Iran.
But in his remarks at the private Easter lunch he hosted at the White House on Wednesday, Trump also expressed frustration with some Asian countries that are more reliant on Gulf oil than the U.S.
“Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force — let South Korea do it,” Trump said. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”
Trump at private lunch ahead of Iran speech derides NATO as ‘very bad allies’ and ‘paper tiger’
“NATO treated us very badly, and you have to remember it because they’ll be treating us badly again if we ever need them,” Trump fumed anew about the alliance. “And hopefully, we’re never going to need them. I don’t think we’ll need them. I don’t think they can do very much.”
Trump added, “NATO won’t be there if we ever have the big one.”
The president’s scathing comments came during remarks at a private lunch on Wednesday at the White House that Trump hosted to mark the coming Easter holiday. Video of the speech was posted online by a Business Insider reporter who said he noticed the White House had uploaded video of the closed-press event and downloaded it before the White House later made it private.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press on why it took the video down.
3 children injured in central Israel in Iran’s first missile attack on Thursday
Israel’s emergency services say a 12-year-old and two 7-month-olds were mildly injured from shattered glass in central Israel in the first launch of missiles Thursday from Iran.
A 24-year-old was also mildly injured in the same overnight incident in Bnei Brak, a city east of Tel Aviv that’s been struck repeatedly during the war, according to Magen David Adom rescue services. On Wednesday morning there, an 11-year-old girl was injured by shrapnel in another missile strike and she remained in critical condition, the medical service added.
Israel’s military said it was working to intercept another missile launch from Iran early on Thursday morning.
Israeli military says Iran has launched its first missile barrage of the day
Very early on Thursday, Israel’s military said Iran had launched missiles at the country, the first time of the day.
Sirens sounded the alert in Tel Aviv, central Israel and parts of the occupied West Bank.
Secretary-General Rutte to visit Washington next week as Trump continues to lash at NATO
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is scheduled to visit Washington next week as Trump continues to lash at members of the military alliance for rejecting the U.S. leader’s call to help open up the Strait of Hormuz.
The visit by Rutte was confirmed by a White House official who was not authorized to comment on the yet to be formally announced visit and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Trump and Rutte have a good relationship, but the president has sounded increasingly annoyed with alliance members as the Iran war grinds on, particularly the United Kingdom and France.
The dynamic is creating uncertainty and concern over the future of the alliance, whose value Trump has long called into question.
