Trump says we're 'blowing up the whole country' if Iran doesn't make deal in 48 hours

Two C-130 aircraft were lost during the operation, an official said.

Last Updated: April 6, 2026, 1:24 AM EDT

President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.

Watch special coverage on Nightline, "War with Iran," each night on ABC and streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Apr 03, 2026, 6:05 AM EDT

France's president calls for 'return to peace'

The French President Emmanuel Macron has called for "a return to peace" while speaking to reporters during a trip to South Korea.

“We all need stability, calm, a return to peace. This isn’t a show," Macron told the media.

“There is too much talk … and it’s all over the place," he added.

Macron didn't mention U.S. President Donald Trump by name in his comments but his latest comments are part of a recent trend as European leaders have increasingly spoken out against Trump's policies.

“You have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don’t go around saying the opposite every day of what you just said the day before. And perhaps you shouldn’t talk every day”, Macron said.

At a private event on Wednesday, Trump made fun of Macron's marriage and made reference to a video from last year in which Brigitte Macron appeared to push her husband in the face aboard the French president's plane.

“I called up France, Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly. [He is] still recovering from the right to the jaw," Trump said Wednesday.

Reacting to those comments, Macron responded that they were “neither elegant nor up to standard” and did not “merit a response."

-ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge

Apr 02, 2026, 11:44 PM EDT

Trump continues threats: 'Bridges next, then electric power plants'

In a social media post late Thursday night, President Donald Trump wrote that the U.S. "hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran," adding: "Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!"

In an interview with Time magazine earlier Thursday, Trump said the U.S. "blew up" three Iranian bridges overnight.

President Donald Trump walks to the podium to deliver an address to the nation about the Iran war at the White House in Washington, April 1, 2026.
Alex Brandon/Pool/EPA/Shutterstock

"New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!" Trump added in the social media post.

Apr 02, 2026, 7:53 PM EDT

Iran executes 18-year-old protester

The Iranian government executed Amirhossein Hatami, an 18-year-old protester, on Thursday for charges related to the nationwide protests in the country in January, according to Mizan News Agency, the official news outlet of the country's judiciary.

Mizan reported that Hatami was a "terrorist element of the enemy" who "threw stones" within the perimeter of a military building and claimed he was involved in "destroying and burning government property with the intention of opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Amnesty International described Hatami's trial " grossly unfair."

"He was sentenced to death less than a month after his arrest in connection with the January 2026 protests, following a grossly unfair trial before a Revolutionary Court in Tehran," Amnesty Iran said in a post on X, following Hatami's execution.

At least four other protesters have been sentenced by the Islamic Republic's judiciary in the same case -- Mohammad Amin Biglari, Ali Fahim, Abolfazl Salehi Siavashani and Shahin Vahedparast Kolo, according to the human rights nonprofit Abdorrahman Boroumand Center's post on X on Thursday.

Hatami is the fifth protester who was executed for charges related to Iran's January protests.

The other four were executed on charges including "waging war against God" -- one of the charges the Islamic Republic uses to issue death sentences for protesters -- and espionage. All five people were executed after the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began.

Several human rights groups have repeatedly warned about the concerning situation of protesters and prisoners in Iran following the brutal suppression of January protests by the regime. More than 6,800 protesters were killed by the regime and over 50,000 others were arrested, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

-ABC News' Somayeh Malekian

Apr 02, 2026, 4:40 PM EDT

8 killed, 95 injured in US-Israeli attack on bridge near Tehran, Iranian media says

At least eight civilians were killed and 95 others were injured in the U.S.-Israeli attack on the B1 bridge between Karaj and Tehran on Thursday, according to Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

ABC News can not independently confirm the deaths.

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