In his address Wednesday night, U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will keep hitting Iran "very hard" in the next two or three weeks and bring the country "back to the Stone Ages," even as he touted the success of U.S. operations and argued that all of Washington's objectives have so far been met or exceeded.
Iran is firing more missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab states, with a spokesperson for its military insisting Thursday that Tehran maintains hidden stockpiles of arms, munitions and production facilities.
In Lebanon — where Israel has launched a ground invasion against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants — Israeli strikes have killed 27 people in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.
Stocks recovered most of their losses from earlier in the day, though oil prices remained elevated after Trump failed to offer a clear timetable for ending the conflict in his address. U.S. crude oil was up 8.4% at $108.82 per barrel, pulling back from over $110.
Here is the latest:
Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack against Israel
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels said this was a joint operation with Iran and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, said in a prerecorded statement that the group’s intervention in the war is “a gradual one”, and they will “deal with future developments according to the enemy’s escalation or de-esclation”.
Earlier Thursday, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
The Houthis had remained on the war's sidelines until Saturday, when they claimed a missile attack against Israel.
There are growing concerns that the Houthis could start attacking shipping in the Red Sea, as they did during the war in Gaza, or oil facilities in the Persian Gulf, as they did previously during Yemen's civil war.
Trump sons’ drone venture denies conflicts of interest
This latest Trump venture, Powerus, has its sights on $1.1 billion set aside by the Pentagon to build up a U.S. manufacturing base for armed drones to fill a hole left when the Trump administration banned such imports from China.
The Florida-based company denied any conflicts when it announced the Trump brothers' deal. Asked about potential Powerus conflicts of interest specifically, Eric Trump sent the AP a statement last month saying, "I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in. Drones are clearly the wave of the future."
The company recently raised $60 million from investors and hopes to tap additional financing by doing a “reverse merger” with a Trump company listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange that owns a few golf courses. Such a merger allows a private business to quickly go public, shortening the process of filing paperwork and meeting various requirements of a regular initial public offering.
Company backed by Trump sons is pitching drone interceptors to Gulf states being attacked by Iran
A drone maker backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. is trying to sell to countries that now depend on the U.S. military led by their father, positioning them to benefit from the war he began.
Powerus co-founder Brett Velicovich told The Associated Press that the company is making sales pitches that include drone demonstrations in several Gulf countries to show how its defensive drone interceptors could help them ward off Iranian attacks.
“These countries are under enormous pressure to buy from the sons of the president so he will do what they want,” said Richard Painter, a former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush. “This is going to be the first family of a president to make a lot of money off war — a war he didn’t get the consent of Congress for.”
Pakistan hikes fuel prices by 42% amid global oil price surge linked to Iran war
The Pakistani government called Thursday’s increase unavoidable as global oil costs climb because of the Iran war. The government raised prices by 137 rupees (49 cents) per liter, after already increasing prices by roughly 20% last month.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the conflict has hit Pakistan's economy hard and that he is trying to bring Washington and Tehran to the negotiating table.
War crimes investigation of Israel is sought in France
The complaint filed Thursday with France's war crimes unit in Paris involves an Israeli strike on a Beirut apartment building in November 2024, well before the current war. The International Federation for Human Rights says it killed seven civilians, including the parents of a French-Lebanese artist, Ali Cherri.
The human rights group said the strike hit just hours before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect, and that bombing a civilian building could constitute a war crime under French criminal law and international humanitarian law. Amnesty International said its own investigation found no evidence of a military objective in or near the building, and that civilians received no effective advance warning.
Israel 's Foreign Ministry referred questions to Israel's military, which did not immediately respond Thursday, but has said it follows international legal norms and strikes only legitimate military targets.
War deals a heavy blow to Iraq’s oil-dependent economy
Iraq relies on oil revenues for roughly 90% of its budget, and most of it is exported through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the Iran war began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran. The war also has led to a sharp reduction in the volume of imported goods reaching southern Iraq's ports, and halted traffic at Iraq's border with Iran.
Unlike other countries in the Middle East touched by the war, Iraq hosts both entrenched Iran-aligned forces and significant U.S. interests, exposing it to attacks from both sides.
Iran has offered assurances that Iraqi crude can safely transit the Strait of Hormuz, said Bassem Abdul Karim, the head of Iraq’s Basra Oil Company.
However, because Iraq lacks its own tanker fleet and depends on chartered vessels, shipments ultimately hinge on whether tanker owners are willing to accept the heightened risks. Most are not.
US-Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure threaten to set back Iran ‘generations’
An Iranian human rights activist has described attacks on her area of eastern Tehran.
“For two or three nights the sky was full of drones. I constantly saw them,” she said, speaking with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for her safety.
A dissident and former political prisoner, she said U.S.-Israeli strikes are doing growing harm. Trump’s threat to send Iran back to the Stone Age was “offensive” and recalled the brutal 13th century Mongol invasion of Iran, she added.
“The truth is: their problem isn’t with the Islamic Republic, it’s with Iran,” she added, pointing to what she said were recent strikes on steel plants, a pharmaceutical company and a landmark Tehran health institute.
She described seeing “completely” destroyed homes scattered across the capital, especially in a low-income neighborhood, Resalat. Iran’s Red Crescent has reported extensive damage to homes and civilian sites.
— By Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cario.
Gulf nations back UN resolution authorizing ‘all necessary measures’ to guarantee shipping through Strait of Hormuz
“All necessary measures” is language used by the United Nations that includes military action.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council said Iran’s retaliatory attacks on its neighbors had exceeded “all red lines.”
Jassim Albudaiwi also stressed that the six GCC nations must be included in any discussions or agreements with Iran on ensuring regional security.
Bahrain, the current U.N. Security Council president and a GCC member, has said it wants a vote Friday on a resolution calling on countries “to use all necessary means” to ensure international transit “in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.”
It faces opposition from veto-wielding Russia and China.
Dizzying US fuel prices mostly benefit companies that extract and refine crude
The near-daily changes in U.S. gas prices have been dizzying for drivers. Experts say differences in price aren’t typically decided by any individual gas retailer, and most of them aren’t pocketing the extra pennies when prices rise.
U.S. gas prices are climbing fast, and drivers are paying the highest pump prices since 2022 as the Iran war shakes oil markets.
The national average jumped past $4 a gallon this week. The Energy Information Administration says about half the price covers crude oil, and about 20% goes to refiners.
The near-daily changes in U.S. gas prices are dizzying for drivers, who are left feeling frustrated and cash-strapped as the Iran war pushes up prices worldwide. In his speech on the Iran war, Trump asked Americans for patience.
Gulf nations back UN resolution authorizing ‘all necessary measures’ to guarantee shipping
“All necessary measures” is language used by the United Nations that includes military action.
At a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday, the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council said Iran’s retaliatory attacks on its neighbors had exceeded “all red lines.” Jassim Albudaiwi also stressed that the six GCC nations must be included in any discussions or agreements with Iran on ensuring regional security.
Bahrain, the current U.N. Security Council president and a GCC member, has said it wants a vote Friday on a resolution calling on countries “to use all necessary means” to ensure international transit through the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
It faces opposition from veto-wielding Russia and China.
Democrats say Trump is losing the war
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said the president’s speech Wednesday night was “grounded in a reality that only exists in Donald Trump’s mind.”
“We are losing this war,” Murphy said. “We cannot destroy all their missiles or drones, nor their nuclear program. Iran projects more power in the region than they did before the war, especially if they now permanently control the Strait of Hormuz. We are spending billions we don’t have and losing American lives in a war that is destabilizing the world and making us look feckless.”
Iran's oldest medical research institution is hit
Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for Iran’s Health Ministry, said on X that the strikes on the Pasteur Institute of Iran were “a direct assault on international health security” and called on the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross to respond.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei on X called it “heartbreaking, cruel, despicable, and utterly outrageous.” Both shared photos of destruction and rubble.
Israel’s military said it was not aware of the strikes, and U.S. Central Command did not respond to questions.
The institute is a large laboratory complex that opened more than a century ago and has a staff of more than 1,300 working on the development and manufacture of vaccines and biopharmaceuticals. The Paris-based Pasteur Network, a global health alliance spanning 32 centers worldwide, did not immediately respond to questions when contacted after business hours.
The Institute would not be the first medical facility hit during the war. Tehran's Gandhi Hospital was damaged by shrapnel and debris. Israel has previously claimed Iran struck the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. And Lebanon's health ministry said Thursday that nine hospitals have been targeted by Israeli air strikes so far.
Lebanon bids farewell to 3 fallen UN peacekeepers
The coffins of three Indonesian soldiers serving as U.N. peacekeepers left Beirut on Thursday after a ceremony honoring their sacrifice, as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies in southern Lebanon.
“They lost their lives here in Lebanon, serving under the United Nations flag, serving for peace,” said Major General Diodato Abagnara, UNIFIL head of mission and force commander.
Two were killed Monday when their vehicle was hit by an explosion of unknown origin, a day after the third peacekeeper was killed. The U.N. says the deaths are under investigation, and Israel denies involvement.
Trump posts video of bridge collapsing and urges Iran to ‘make a deal’
Trump posted the footage on his social media platform, saying it was Iran’s biggest bridge and threatening “Much more to follow.”
Earlier Thursday, Iranian state media reported that the country’s B1 bridge, which is under construction and reportedly the tallest bridge in the Middle East, was attacked. Two semi-officials news agencies reported that two people were killed.
It was not immediately clear if the footage Trump shared was of the B1 bridge.
“IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY,” Trump wrote.
UN says peacekeepers had to demand Israeli troops take down their nearby flag
“As you can imagine, the flag undermines the perception of UNIFIL’s impartiality and risks drawing fire towards peacekeepers amid the ongoing clashes that we are seeing,” Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson, said Thursday.
The Israeli flag was raised near a peacekeeping position by the village of Kfra Kila in southern Lebanon.
This comes just days after three UNIFIL peacekeepers were killed in two separate instances, as Israel invades southern Lebanon and engages in combat with Hezbollah. The investigation into their deaths is ongoing.
Austria closes its airspace to US military operations related to Iran
Austria’s Defense Ministry cited its neutrality law for rejecting U.S. requests to use its airspace for ongoing operations
The Austria Press Agency quoted a ministry spokesperson on Thursday as saying that there had been “several” requests from Washington, adding that individual cases would be examined in coordination with the Foreign Ministry.
The Alpine nation is the latest European country to restrict U.S. military access amid the ongoing U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran.
Rocket of unknown origin falls on UN peacekeeper base in southern Lebanon, Italy’s Defense Ministry says
The Italian Defense Ministry said Thursday that no injuries were reported and there was only minor damage to infrastructure.
Italy is the second-largest contributor to the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, with some 1,000 to 1,200 soldiers.
The base was struck just days after three UNIFIL peacekeepers were killed in two separate instances, as Israel invades southern Lebanon and engages in combat with Hezbollah. The investigation into their deaths is ongoing.
Israel identifies a missile launched toward the country from Yemen
The military’s announcement came shortly after a warning about incoming missiles from Iran.
The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, unlike Lebanon's Hezbollah and militant groups in Iraq, had held back for a month into the war before attacking Israel.
Iranians react to Trump’s threat to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’
That specific line in Trump’s speech Wednesday, which he used in a prior social media post, has stirred anger among Iran officials and the public alike.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on X that Trump’s comment “reflects ignorance, not strength,” noting that the country’s civilization stretches back more than 7,000 years.
Similarly, Seyed Majid Moosavi, the Revolutionary Guard’s Aerospace Force commander, said on X that Hollywood has misled the U.S. officials into believing that they can threaten Iran with their “paltry 250-year history.”
Some ordinary Iranian people shared similar sentiments.
“God willing he himself (Donald Trump) will go back to the Stone Age,” Mahdi Moghaddam, 55, said in an interview in Tehran.
And in letter to Americans on Wednesday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian asked whether such a boast serves “any purpose other than further damaging the United States’ global standing.”
Bahrain minister says UN vote on resolution will take place Friday `God willing’
Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, whose country holds the presidency of the Security Council, said Bahrain looks forward to “a unified position” from its 15 members in the vote, though veto-wielding Russia and China have expressed opposition.
Al-Zayani, the Arab representative on the U.N.’s most powerful body, accused Iran of threatening the global economy by closing the Strait of Hormuz and restricting international navigation through the waterway.
These actions violate international law and “endanger energy security and food supplies and global trade,” he said.
The Bahrain-drafted Security Council resolution, which is still undergoing revisions, calls on countries “to use all necessary means” —U.N. language that includes military action — to ensure international transit through the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Some Iranians show defiance by dancing and barbecuing
The annual public picnic day, called Sizdeh Bedar, which comes from the Farsi words for “thirteen” and “day out,” is a legacy from Iran’s pre-Islamic past that hard-liners in the Islamic Republic never managed to erase from calendars. Many say it’s bad luck to stay indoors for the holiday. (AP video by Mohsen Ganji)
The day after Trump said U.S. attacks on Iran would intensify, some Iranians showed their defiance by holding outdoor barbecues and dancing in a park. Thursday is an annual public picnic day known as Sizdeh Bedar, an ancient tradition marking the last day of Iran’s Nowruz, holidays.
The war, now in its second month, has killed more than 1,900 in Iran and left a trail of damage across military sites, universities, cultural landmarks. But even as Trump heralds the killing of the theocracy’s pre-war leaders and the strikes that have degraded its ballistic missile capabilities, some Iranians said Thursday Trump is the one more likely to learn a hard lesson.
“The enemy must know now that this shouldn’t have started, it shouldn’t have attacked and invaded,” said Rasool Azimi, 27, as he was smoking hookah in Tehran’s Mellat park.
Oil jumps and Wall Street wavers after Trump vows to escalate attacks on Iran
Stocks recovered most of their earlier losses as volatility returned to Wall Street after two days of solid gains. The S&P 500 was down 0.1% after slumping as much as 1.5% in early trading Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 87 points, or 0.2% as of 11:08 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%. Stocks in Europe pared their losses.
Oil prices remained elevated although down from earlier highs. The price for a barrel of U.S. crude rose to nearly $114 a barrel at one point.
The unsettled trading follows Trump’s failure in his national address to offer a clear timetable for ending the war. His comments appeared to dim the hopes for a near-term conclusion that had pushed stocks higher through most the week.
Bahrain UN proposal to open Strait of Hormuz reaches impasse over China, Russia objections
Days of closed-door consultations and high-level talks between Chinese, Russian and Bahraini officials have not yet resulted in a breakthrough on a draft proposal to open the critical waterway.
Moscow and Beijing objected to the latest draft Thursday despite some minor changes, arguing that language authorizing “all necessary means” to protect commercial shipping still goes too far.
That is according to a U.N. diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic conversations.
“Actions by the UN Security Council should help ease tensions and bring about a ceasefire and the resumption of talks, rather than endorse illegal acts of war, still less add fuel to the fire,” China’s mission to the U.N. posted on X.
— By Farnoush Amiri and Edith M. Lederer
Argentina declares Iran’s top diplomat persona non grata, orders departure amid escalating tensions
Argentina on Thursday declared Iran’s chargé d’affaires, Mohsen Soltani Tehrani, persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country within 48 hours.
The decision followed a statement from Iran’s foreign affairs ministry accusing President Javier Milei and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno of acting under “the influence of the occupying and genocidal Zionist regime and the United States,” and of being complicit in U.S. attacks on Iran.
In late March, Argentina designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. The designation allows authorities to freeze its assets, funds and property and bars it from operating within the country’s financial system.
Argentina has long said that the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association “were planned, financed and carried out with the direct participation of the Iranian regime and operatives of the Revolutionary Guard.”
The 1992 bombing killed 29 people and injured more than 200. The AMIA attack killed 85 and wounded more than 300 in Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack.
Trump’s jibes at UK’s Royal Navy strike a nerve
The U.K. has been at the forefront of Trump’s ire since the onset of the Iran war on Feb. 28, when British Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to grant the U.S. military access to British bases. He has repeatedly lashed out at Starmer and branded the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers as “toys.”
For numerous reasons, the Royal Navy is, and has no reason to be, as big as it used it to be. But it’s not as feeble as Trump implies.
In the wake of Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and with another Middle East war underway, there’s a growing understanding across the U.K’s political divide that defense spending needs to be ramped up.
UN experts urge international probe into Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalists
Israeli strikes on March 28 killed Ali Shoeib, a correspondent with Hezbollah’s Al-Manar; and two journalists with Al-Mayadeen, the Lebanese pan-Arab television network: reporter Fatima Ftouni and her cameraman brother Mohammed, as they covered the war in southern Lebanon.
The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said Thursday that the killings must be “promptly, fully and independently investigated by an international body.”
Israel’s military said without providing evidence that it had targeted Shoeib for being a Hezbollah intelligence operative. The U.N. experts said working for an outlet an outlet linked to an armed group does not constitute direct participation in hostilities.
“We denounce strongly what has now become a standard, dangerous practice of Israel to target and kill journalists and then claim, without providing any credible evidence, that they were involved with armed groups,” the UN experts said in a press release. “The only ‘evidence’ … is what they themselves admit is a photoshopped image of Ali Shoeib … a blatant demonstration of their disdain for international law.”
Israel has killed at least 259 journalists across regional conflicts since the Gaza war began in 2023, with at least 64 of them appearing to have been directly targeted, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Beijing urges end to war as soon as possible in calls with EU, Germany and Saudi Arabia
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says Beijing is willing to work with the European Union to end the war in Iran as soon as possible.
He made the comments in a phone call Thursday with Kaja Kallas, EU’s foreign policy chief. Wang said similar in a separate call with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Wang also told Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan that the most urgent matter is halting the fighting.
Kallas said on social media that the EU “supports all diplomatic efforts” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and “calls for de-escalation and restraint.”
The Chinese foreign ministry statement said Kallas praised a five-point proposal from China and Pakistan urging hostile acts to end, peace talks to start and the strait to be secured.