Here’s the latest.

 

Updated

April 2, 2026, 7:40 a.m. ETJust now

Zolan Kanno-YoungsYan Zhuang and Jason Karaian

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/02/world/iran-war-trump-news

 

Here’s the latest.

Oil prices surged and stock markets sank on Thursday, hours after President Trump declared in a national television address that the U.S. military campaign against Iran would escalate and failed to offer a clear exit strategy, though he insisted the war was an overwhelming success.

 

On Wednesday night, in his first prime-time address from the White House since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, Mr. Trump vowed to hit Iran “extremely hard” and threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages.” He repeated his threats to hit Iranian infrastructure, including electrical plants, unless a deal was struck.

 

Investors hoping for clearer signals of a de-escalation appeared disappointed. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, jumped more than 7 percent in early trading on Thursday, the steepest daily rise in three weeks. Stock markets around the world fell, with indexes in Asia, where countries import vast quantities of oil and gas from the Middle East, hit particularly hard.

 

Mr. Trump said in his speech that Iran’s “ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed.” On Thursday morning, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said that American and Israeli strikes had not decimated the country’s missile production centers, long-range drones, air defenses or electronic warfare systems. The United States and Israel “know nothing about our vast and strategic capabilities,” the Guards said in a statement on Thursday.

 

The U.S. and Israeli militaries have destroyed many of Iran’s ballistic missiles and launchers in airstrikes. But a large number are undamaged, and Iran continues to launch missiles and drones.

 

Early Thursday, Israel’s military said its forces had intercepted missiles launched from Iran. The authorities in the United Arab Emirates said their forces had responded to drone and missile strikes from Iran, while Saudi Arabia reported intercepting a missile and drones without saying where they came from.

 

Mr. Trump also appeared to plead with Americans uneasy about the war’s economic costs to “keep this conflict in perspective.” He framed the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, a major global conduit for oil, as an issue for other nations, even though he had said hours earlier that he would not agree to any cease-fire deal unless the waterway was opened. Iran has choked off traffic through the strait, causing oil and natural gas prices to surge.

 

Here’s what else we’re covering:

 

Strait of Hormuz: Britain’s foreign secretary was expected to host a virtual meeting with dozens of nations — but not the United States — about Iran’s de facto blockade. The Philippines, which declared a national energy emergency last month, said that Iran had granted safe passage through the strait for ships under the Philippines’ flag.

 

Energy: Iraq has begun exporting oil by land through Syria following disruptions to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq’s Oil Ministry said on Thursday. The pathway is the second Iraq has set up after halting most oil tanker shipments through its Basra port. Two tankers were attacked last month in Iraqi territorial waters near the Basra oil terminal.

 

Nuclear capabilities: Mr. Trump argued in his Wednesday night address that Iran was on the cusp of building a nuclear weapon. That is disputed. Iran could have produced bomb-grade nuclear fuel within days or weeks. But it would take months or more than a year to fashion that fuel into a weapon, American intelligence agencies concluded. Read more ›

 

Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,606 civilians had been killed, including 244 children, in Iran since the war began. Lebanon’s health ministry said that more than 1,318 Lebanese had been killed as of Wednesday since the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began. In attacks blamed on Iran, at least 50 people have been killed in Gulf nations. In Israel, at least 17 had been killed as of Friday. The American death toll stands at 13 service members, with hundreds of others wounded.