Trump says war will end 'shortly'; Iran denies requesting a ceasefire

President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address to the nation on Wednesday, declaring military success against Iran and making his case for what he says will be several more weeks of war.

“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong,” he says.

Iran has responded saying, the U.S. hasn’t destroyed key targets and that it won’t open the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump Vows to Hit Iran 'Extremely Hard' in Coming Weeks

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Military and foreign policy experts told NBC News that the U.S. military has carried out tactical objectives in degrading Iran’s offensive and defensive capabilities but that there is a more open question about Trump’s strategy if the remnants of the Iranian regime remain in power, control the Strait of Hormuz, still possess highly enriched uranium and retain the capacity to threaten America’s allies in the region.

“You’d have to ask yourself exactly what was this all about,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former State Department official.

Retired Army Col. Steve Warren, an NBC News military analyst and former Pentagon spokesperson, said: “This is clearly a tactical success. Strategic success is often in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it? I think by sort of conventional standards, we would have to say it’s not a strategic success” if Iran keeps those cards, “but this president doesn’t appear to be adhering to the conventional standards.”

Miller said Trump failed to answer those key questions about Iran’s leverage following a U.S. exit and did not effectively address two other important aspects of the war: ground troops and diplomacy. Many lawmakers, including some Republicans, have expressed their discomfort with the prospect of American forces’ landing on Iranian soil.

“There was almost no mention of ongoing indirect negotiations, no mention of mediators — the Pakistanis, the Turks, the Egyptians — no sense that there was an opportunity in the two or three weeks that remain that there would be a diplomatic off-ramp,” he said. “The president did not say anything about ground troops. Nothing. Didn’t rule it out, didn’t rule it in.”

Trump hailed the U.S. military’s “unstoppable” prowess in the war with Iran, telling Americans in a prime-time address tonight that the conflict, now entering its second month, will end “shortly” without offering a definite timeline.

Delivered on Day 32 and framed as an operational update, Trump’s speech offered the clearest public case yet for the conflict, arguing it is necessary for the security of the free world and laying out a framework that he said would measure American success.

“Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say tonight that we are on track and the country has been eviscerated and essentially is really no longer a threat,” Trump said. “This is a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future. The whole world is watching.”

Still, he said the conflict would continue until the military objectives were “fully achieved.” “Shortly, we’re going to hit them extremely hard,” he said. “Over the next two to three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing.”

Read the full story here.

Trump said talks continue with a new group of "more reasonable" Iranian leaders. Iranian officials have denied that any serious talks are happening with the U.S.

"In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We never said 'regime change,' but regime change has occurred because of all of their original leaders’ deaths. They’re all dead," he said. "The new group is less radical and much more reasonable."

The phrase that I think is going to be jumping out at our allies here in the region is that the Strait of Hormuz is going to open up naturally at the end of this war. That is just not the understanding of anyone here in the Gulf region.

Before the war, 110 ships were passing through every day; Iranian oil was coming out, Iraqi oil, Saudi oil, Qatari gas, passing through a recognized passageway through the middle of the Strait of Hormuz. Today, something like five to 10 ships are passing through every day, and those ships are no longer going unmolested through the middle of the strait.

They are being forced into Iranian waters between a series of islands. This has been nicknamed the Tehran toll booth. The Iranians are inspecting these ships as they come by. They are charging some of them $2 million to pass through, and every indication is that the Iranians want to make this into a long-term arrangement, even after the war continues.

The idea that the U.S. is going to step away and basically leave the Iranians in control of the Strait of Hormuz, in the hope that they are just going to naturally give up this level of control that they have asserted, is going to be very worrying for people here in the Middle East.

As Trump addressed the nation, markets reacted negatively to what he had to say about his plan for the war with Iran.

S&P 500 futures slid 0.75%, Nasdaq futures sold off by 1%, and Dow futures dropped more than 310 points.

Oil prices also shot higher, with U.S. crude oil rising from around $98 to nearly $104. Brent, the international oil benchmark, soared from $99 to $106.

The move in oil prices will directly translate into higher gas prices. Already, since the war began Feb. 28, prices at the pump for U.S. consumers have risen from an average $2.46 per gallon to more than $4 today.

Trump threatened to strike Iran's civilian infrastructure if no deal is reached.

"If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously," he said. "We have not hit their oil, even though that’s the easiest target of all. Because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it and it would be gone, and there’s not a thing they could do about it."

He did not specify what the terms of the deal might be.

Trump threatened more strikes against Iran, saying that over the next two to three weeks, the U.S. will “bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”

“I’ve made clear from the beginning of Operation Epic Fury that we will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly,” he said.

“We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing,” he added.

Iran has denied that it is negotiating with the U.S.

Trump blamed skyrocketing oil prices on Iran, saying the rising costs are “short term.”

“Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent rise in gasoline prices here at home. This short-term increase has been entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict,” he said.

“This is yet more proof that Iran can never be trusted with nuclear weapons,” he continued.

Oil and gas prices have risen significantly since Operation Epic Fury began Feb. 28.

Trump said the U.S. is “nearing completion” on achieving strategic objectives in Iran.

He did not offer specifics about when he would consider those objectives complete

Trump said that from the beginning of political career he “vowed” to “never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon” and he described several attacks led by Iran’s “fanatical regime” that justified the war.

“For these terrorists to have nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat. The most violent and thuggish regime on Earth would be free to carry out their campaigns of terror, coercion, conquest and mass murder from behind a nuclear shield,” Trump said.

“I will never let that happen, and neither should any of our past presidents,” he continued. “This situation has been going on for 47 years and should have been handled long before I arrived in office.”

Trump is giving an assessment of Iran that boasts U.S. military wins, saying Iran has suffered significant losses and that its leadership and armed forces have been hit hard.

Trump’s assessment is largely aligned with his previous remarks on the war.

Trump is now delivering his prime-time remarks from the White House.

He is expected to give an “important update” on the war in Iran, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Kamal Kharrazi, a former Iranian foreign minister and key adviser to the slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, sustained injuries in an "enemy attack" today, according to a state media report.

Mehr News, a semiofficial agency, said the strike took place in a residential area of Tehran and attributed the bombing to U.S. and Israeli forces. The U.S. and Israeli have not publicly addressed the strike or claimed responsibility.

Mohsen Rezaei, a former commander in Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, suggested the U.S. and its international allies stood a poor chance of securing the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway effectively held hostage by the regime in Tehran.

"Even if the whole world comes together, they cannot reopen the Strait of Hormuz," Rezaei said in a statement on Telegram, a messaging platform. "The reason is that the Strait of Hormuz has a geographical position that multiplies the capability of the forces seeking to close it by 10."

The Iranian regime has brought commercial shipping along the Strait of Hormuz to a virtual standstill with a mix of drone attacks and sea mines. As a result, the energy costs have spiked around the world. Typically, 20% of the global oil and gas supply travels through the strait.

In a post on X, Iran's embassy in the United Kingdom cheered British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for largely staying on the sidelines of the U.S.-Israeli military conflict with Iran — a stance that has put the Labour Party leader at odds with Trump.

"We welcome the #UK’s stance of not joining the illegal aggression of the United States and the Israeli regime," the Iranian Embassy said in the post. "We hope this decision will be fully upheld and implemented, and that, like other European countries, the UK will not allow the United States to use its territory to carry out attacks and killings of children in #Iran."

The embassy was responding to a video clip of Starmer effectively brushing off Trump's threat to stop backing the U.K. over its refusal to participate in the U.S.-Israeli campaign against the Iranian regime.

The president of the United Arab Emirates spoke on the phone today with Trump, according to a summary of the call reported by the state news agency WAM.

"They discussed the latest developments in the region and their serious repercussions on regional and international peace and security, as well as their impact on international maritime security and the global economy. They also exchanged views on these matters," WAM reported.

WAM did not provide specifics of the conversation.

Since the Iran war began, the average U.S. retail gas price has jumped 65% to more than $4 per gallon. Diesel fuel has jump even more, by 91%.

That's because the price of U.S. crude oil has risen by more than 45% and the price of Brent, the international oil benchmark, has jumped almost 40% since the first strikes on Iran.

Meanwhile, stocks have tumbled. The S&P 500, which closed out its worst quarter since 2022 on Monday, has fallen more than 4% since the war started. The Nasdaq has fallen more than 3.5%, and the Dow has slid almost 5%.

Mortgage rates, too, are higher by about 8% since the conflict began.

FBI agents today visited the family of kidnapped journalist Shelly Kittleson, according to a U.S. official. Suspected Iran-backed militants kidnapped Kittleson in Iraq yesterday, according to the State Department and the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

Barb Kittleson, Shelly's mother, told NBC affiliate WTMJ of Milwaukee that her daughter has been living in the Middle East and working as a journalist for about 20 years. She said she last heard from her daughter Monday.

In a letter released publicly today, Iran's president denied that Tehran posed a "threat" to the U.S. and insisted his nation's citizens "harbor no enmity toward other nations, including the people of America, Europe, or neighboring countries."

"Even in the face of repeated foreign interventions and pressures throughout their proud history, Iranians have consistently drawn a clear distinction between governments and the peoples they govern," Masoud Pezeshkian said in the letter.

"This is a deeply rooted principle in Iranian culture and collective consciousness—not a temporary political stance," he added. "For this reason, portraying Iran as a threat is neither consistent with historical reality nor with present-day observable facts."

Pezeshkian is a former heart surgeon who has been Iran's president since 2024.

A large fire broke out at Kuwait International Airport after a drone attack early today by Iran and its allies, authorities said.

“The attacks targeted fuel tanks belonging to the Kuwait Aviation Fueling Company (KAFCO) at the airport, resulting in a large fire at the site,” the country’s Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. 

Authorities said there were no casualties, though there was “significant” damage to the fuel tanks.

​China will at one point have to engage more directly on how to restore oil traffic flows in the Strait of Hormuz because the number ⁠of vessels going through it is probably insufficient, France’s navy chief said today.

“We have not seen China’s navy step in to reopen the strait. On the other hand, there ⁠is direct political dialogue between Chinese ​and ⁠Iranian authorities to ensure that a certain number of vessels can pass. Will that be enough ⁠to restore normal traffic flows? I don’t believe so,” ​Adm. ⁠Nicolas Vaujour said at the War & ‌Peace security conference in Paris.

“As a result, China will probably have to engage more directly in the debate ‌and show its impatience with the ‌fact that the strait remains closed.”

Vaujour said France was working to bring a number of countries to the table at a political level ⁠first to determine the conditions under which the strait could be reopened in a lasting way.

The United Arab Emirates has denied reports that it could join the war in an effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force.

“Recent reporting suggesting a shift in the UAE’s posture is misleading. The UAE maintains a defensive posture focused on protecting its sovereignty, its people, and its infrastructure, and reserves its right to self-defense in response to ongoing unlawful and unprovoked attacks," an Emirati official said in a statement.

Wall Street Journal reporting had suggested the UAE "is willing to join the fight" to reopen the waterway.

However, the official said the country remains ready to “support collective international efforts aimed at safeguarding maritime security and ensuring the uninterrupted flow of commerce” in the Strait of Hormuz.

"The UAE underscores that such a strategic waterway cannot be subject to disruption or coercion by any state, particularly in ways that threaten global economic stability and international security," the statement added.

NATO countries are responding after Trump threatened to pull the U.S. out of the alliance.

Finnish President Alexander Stubbs said on X that he had a “constructive discussion and exchange of ideas” with Trump about NATO, adding: “Problems are there to be solved, pragmatically.”

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said any threat to remove the U.S. from the alliance is “harmful,” while Lithuania’s defense minister, Robertas Kaunas, told NBC News that its partnership with the U.S. “has been, is and will remain a strategic priority.”

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said on X: “It is not a ‘paper tiger’ — it is the most successful military alliance in modern history, and Donald Trump’s threat to pull the United States out of NATO is reckless, dangerous, and plays directly into the hands of our adversaries.”

A spokesperson for the office of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has denied that he has asked President Donald Trump for a ceasefire.

"The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding national defense of the country’s integrity against the aggression of enemies and the conditions for ending the imposed war has not changed, and no attention is given to the delusions and falsehoods of criminals," Seyyed Mehdi Tabatabaei said in a post on X.

“The people of Iran are determined, steadfast, and united in defending their homeland. Unity is the key to our victory,” Tabatabaei added.

His comments came after Trump said in a post on Truth Social earlier today that Iran's leadership asked the U.S. for a ceasefire.

Trump's post did not identify who had made the offer by name but said it came from "Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors." Pezeshkian has been in office since 2024.

In a phone interview with Reuters, President Donald Trump said the U.S. plans to leave Iran "pretty quickly" but may come back for "spot hits."

He said the United States’ actions have ensured Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

"They won’t have a nuclear weapon because they are incapable ‌of that ⁠now, and then I’ll leave, and I’ll take everybody with me, and if we have to, we’ll come back to do spot hits," he said. 

The president also claimed there has been a "full regime change," although Iran does not have a new regime president.

"I’m dealing with a very ​good chance that ⁠we’ll make a deal because they don’t want to be blasted anymore," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said they are working with countries in the Middle East and the Gulf.

"The situation in this region has global significance, and this is reflected in global markets, in the cost of living in every country without exception, as well as in technological challenges that cannot be left without a proper response," he said in a post on X. "War makes weapons more dangerous. Our goal is greater shared security."

Zelenskyy said the country is "already engaged in substantive cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar"; continuing its work with Jordan; and is in contact with Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq.

He said Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team and the head of the National Security and Defense Council, reported today on "planned engagements beyond the Middle East, specifically with Türkiye and several other countries with significant potential."

Zelenskyy ended his post by saying that "no nation should be left alone in the face of terrorist attacks."

An Iranian missile struck a fuel oil tanker early today in Qatar’s territorial waters, officials in Qatar said.

“None of the crew members on board were injured,” ship operator QatarEnergy said in a statement, adding that there was also no environmental impact.

The Qatari Defense Ministry said three cruise missiles had been launched from Iran, two of which were successfully intercepted while the third struck the oil tanker. There were 21 crew members aboard the vessel, the ministry said.

Trump has claimed Iran's leadership has asked the U.S. for a ceasefire.

Iran has yet to publicly acknowledge or confirm any such offer and denied that it was in direct talks with the U.S. last week. The two sides have been exchanging messages via intermediaries in third-party countries including Pakistan, but no face-to-face talks have been arranged.

In a post on Truth Social today, Trump said the ceasefire will be considered "when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear."

Trump's post did not identify who had made the offer by name, saying it came from "Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors." However, Iran's current President, Masoud Pezeshkian, has been in office since 2024.

"Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!!," Trump said.

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had fired a third barrage of ballistic missiles toward Israel, aiming at “sensitive” targets.

The Houthis had stayed out of the war in the Middle East until Friday, when they fired their first missiles toward Israel, raising fears they could also resume attacks on ships in the Red Sea when global trade and energy prices have already been disrupted by Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump says the war with Iran will end in two to three weeks, even as the fighting continues to spread across the Middle East and as U.S. troops continue to head to the region.

Meanwhile, a chilling video is showing the moment U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson is apparently grabbed by Iranian-backed militants in Iraq. One suspected kidnapper was arrested, but the others escaped with Kittleston. The U.S. says it’s working to ensure her release “as quickly as possible.”

Trump Says War With Iran Will End Soon Even as Attacks Escalate

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In a rare address to the nation, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the “economic shocks” from the Iran war could last for months, encouraging people to consider using public transportation.

“You should go about your business and your life as normal,” Albanese said, while urging Australians to take only as much as fuel as they need. 

“Enjoy your Easter, and if you’re hitting the road, don’t take more fuel than you need — just fill up like you normally would,” he said. 

“And over coming weeks, if you can switch to catching the train, bus or tram to work — do so,” he added. 

An Israeli strike in Beirut killed seven people and injured 26 others, Lebanese officials said today.

Earlier, the Lebanese Public Health Ministry said the attack in the Jnah neighborhood of the capital had killed five people and injured 21.

Men look at the damage today at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut.  Anwar Amro / AFP - Getty Images

Pope Leo XIV expressed hope for an end to the Iran war ahead of the Easter holiday this weekend, calling for a reduction in violence and a renewed focus on diplomacy.

“I’m told that President Trump recently stated that he would like to end the war,” Leo told reporters in Rome yesterday. “Hopefully he’s looking for an off-ramp.”

Pope Leo XIV leads his general weekly audience in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City today. Alessandra Benedetti / Corbis via Getty Images

He added, “Hopefully he’s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that’s being created — that’s increasing constantly — in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

Leo called on all world leaders to return to dialogue and look for ways to reduce violence so that “peace, especially at Easter, might reign in our hearts.”

A Bangladeshi national was killed in the United Arab Emirates by debris from a drone that was intercepted by air defenses, authorities said.

The incident took place on a farm in the Al-Rifa’a area in the emirate of Fujairah.

Separately, an Indian national was injured in a similar incident today in the emirate of Umm Al Quwain, officials said.

There are an estimated 24 million foreign workers in the Gulf region, many of them from South Asia. Yesterday, the Dubai Media Office said two Indian nationals, one Bangladeshi national and one Sri Lankan national were injured by debris from an interception that fell on houses in southern Dubai.

President Donald Trump told The Daily Telegraph, a British right-wing newspaper, that NATO was an ineffective "paper tiger" and that he was strongly considering leaving the alliance — a theme he's warmed to in recent weeks after European allies declined to join or support the U.S.-Israeli military action in Iran.

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office yesterday. Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images

But this is far from the first time he's made such a threat. Back in 2018 during his first term in office, Trump said that he would consider leaving if other member states don't "pay their bills."

Iran’s recently installed supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has praised Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah and expressed support for its leadership, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

In the statement, Khamenei said Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem is guiding the movement through a “sensitive and historic moment.”

“I hope that you will be able to thwart the plans of the Zionist enemy, defeat them and once again bring the taste of peace and honor to the dear people of Lebanon,” the report said. 

Khamenei’s current whereabouts are unknown, and he has not made any recent public appearances. Iran-linked Hezbollah has been greatly weakened in recent years after Israeli attacks wiped out much of its leadership and injured its rank and file.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom is “fully committed to NATO,” after President Donald Trump told a British newspaper he was considering pulling the United States out of the defense alliance.

“We are fully committed to NATO,” Starmer told reporters today. “NATO is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen.”

“It’s in our interests to have a strong relationship with the U.S. and with Europe,” he said, adding that the U.K. needs a “stronger relationship with Europe” in areas including defense, security, energy, emissions and the economy.

“I actually think that will help strengthen our relationship with the U.S.,” he added. 

In a Truth Social post yesterday, Trump had criticized the UK for not getting involved in its war with Iran, adding that the U.S. “won’t be there to help.”

“Go get your own oil,” he wrote. 

Fourteen people were injured in Israel after a missile attack, including an 11-year-old girl, Israeli officials said.

The girl remains in “serious condition” after sustaining shrapnel injuries to her limbs. A 13-year-old boy and a 36-year-old also suffered shrapnel injuries but are in “moderate condition,” according to a spokesperson for Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service.

Eleven others sustained minor injuries and are in “mild condition,” the spokesperson added.

Oil fell below $100 per barrel and Asian shares were sharply higher today after U.S. stocks soared to their best day in almost a year on renewed hopes that the Iran war could soon end.

South Korea’s Kospi recovered its losses from earlier this week, surging 8.4% to 5,478.70, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 5.2% to 53,739.68. A survey by Japan’s central bank released today showed business sentiment for major Japanese manufacturers improved despite Iran war worries.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 2.3% to 25,346.42, while the Shanghai Composite index was trading 1.5% higher at 3,948.55. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 2.2% to 8,671.80.

Taiwan’s Taiex climbed 4.6%, and India’s Sensex rose 2.4%. U.S. futures were 0.7% higher.

Trump says he is strongly considering pulling the U.S. out of NATO, the U.S.-led military alliance that has been a cornerstone of the international order since the end of World War II, citing NATO allies’ failure to join the Iran war.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Trump said a U.S. withdrawal from NATO was “beyond reconsideration.”

“I was never swayed by NATO,” he said. “I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”

President Trump at the NATO summit in Brussels in 2018. Sean Gallup / Getty Images file

Trump has been frustrated by a perceived lack of support from the 31 other NATO member countries, who were not consulted about the Iran war before the U.S. and Israel began strikes on Feb. 28. Spain, for example, has refused to let the U.S. use its airspace or jointly operate military bases for the conflict, while the German defense minister has said it is “not our war.”

"I just think it should be automatic," Trump said. “We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us.”

Oil and gas prices in Europe are unlikely to return to normal anytime soon, even if the Iran war were to end immediately, the E.U. energy commissioner said.

Motorists filling their cars at a gas station in Derby, England, on Friday. Loannis Alexopoulos / Anadolu via Getty Images

While there are no immediate shortages of oil or gas in the 27-member bloc, there is growing pressure on diesel and jet fuel supplies, Commissioner Dan Jørgensen told reporters yesterday. He also warned of “increasing constraints” on global gas markets and the spillover effect on electricity prices.

“What I find extremely important is to state as clearly as I can, that even if that peace is here tomorrow, still we will not go back to normal in a foreseeable future,” he said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the “finish line” of the Iran war was within sight, and that the U.S. will have to re-examine its relations with NATO once the conflict is over.

“We can see the finish line. It’s not today, it’s not tomorrow, but it is coming,” he said in an interview on Fox News.

Rubio also complained about the perceived lack of support from NATO allies that have resisted becoming directly involved in the Iran war. Spain, for example, has refused to let the U.S. use its airspace or jointly operate military bases for the conflict.

Rubio said that once the Iran war ends, the U.S. will have to assess whether the U.S.-led military alliance formed after World War II is still serving the country’s interests, “or has it now become a one-way street where America is simply in a position to defend Europe, but when we need the help of our allies, they’re going to deny us basing rights, and they’re going to deny us overflight?”

Indonesia has called on the United Nations to investigate attacks that killed three of its peacekeepers and injured five others in Lebanon, where Israel has been carrying out strikes against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Two Indonesian peacekeepers from the U.N. mission in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, were killed Monday when an “explosion of unknown origin” destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan, the U.N. said. It was the second such incident in less than 24 hours after another Indonesian peacekeeper was killed Sunday.

“We demand investigation by the United Nations, not excuses from Israel,” said Umar Hadi, Indonesia’s representative to the U.N., adding that the attacks “may constitute war crimes under international law.”

The Israel Defense Forces said earlier that an internal review found it was not responsible for the explosive device that killed the two peacekeepers on Monday, and that no IDF troops were present in the area.

A building in Beirut’s southern suburbs, adjacent to the highway that leads to Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport, was hit by an Israeli strike yesterday, leading to a dramatic explosion.

Lebanese health officials said Israeli attacks had killed seven people in Beirut, though it was not clear whether any of the casualties were at the building, where Israel had issued an evacuation order.

Fadel Itani / AFP via Getty Images

Fadel Itani / AFP via Getty Images

Israel’s military said it carried out “wide-scale waves” of strikes in Tehran overnight.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said it targeted what it described as “infrastructure sites of the Iranian terror regime” in the capital. 

The military did not immediately provide further details on the extent of the damage or casualties.

An American journalist was kidnapped in Iraq yesterday by suspected Iranian-backed militants, according to the State Department and the country’s Interior Ministry.

The journalist was identified in the hours after her kidnapping came to light as freelancer Shelly Kittleson, with Al-Monitor, one of the publications she works for, calling for her “safe and immediate release.”

Dylan Johnson, the assistant secretary of state for global affairs, said in a post on X that the State Department was “aware of the reported kidnapping of an American journalist in Baghdad, Iraq.”

He said the State Department had “previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them” and would “continue to coordinate with the FBI to ensure their release as quickly as possible.”

Read the full story here.

Trump will address the nation tonight to deliver an “important update” on the war in Iran, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on social media.

Leavitt did not provide more details about what Trump is expected to say. His remarks are scheduled for 9 p.m. ET.

Trump discussed the war in a phone interview with NBC News yesterday morning, saying that “we’re doing great” and that the conflict is “coming to an end.” He later told reporters that he expects the U.S. to “leave” Iran within two or three weeks, adding that Iran does not have to make a deal with the U.S. for the war to end.

Still, that came a day after Trump said that the U.S. was negotiating with Iran and that there had been progress, while he also threatened Iranian infrastructure if a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz was not reached. Iran has said there are no negotiations with the U.S.

Read the full story here.

• Trump to address the nation with ‘important’ update on the Iran war
• Average U.S. gas price hits $4 for the first time since 2022
• A global jet fuel shortage is raising the cost of air travel
• Stocks have their worst quarter since 2022, raising doubts about Trump’s economic playbook
• As Americans bear costs of the Iran war and DHS shutdown, Washington politicians leave town