Iran live updates: Trump says Iranian people have asked US to 'keep bombing'
Iran live updates: Trump says Iranian people have asked US to 'keep bombing'
DAVID BRENNANTue, April 7, 2026 at 6:32 AM UTC
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President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting military and government sites, officials said.
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Latest Developments
Apr 7, 2:32 AMSaudi Arabia says forces intercepted 7 missiles, 18 drones
The Saudi Defense Ministry said in posts to X on Tuesday morning that its forces intercepted seven ballistic missiles and 18 drones fired toward the country.The ministry said that missile debris fell "in the vicinity of energy facilities" and that damage assessment is ongoing.
-/IRIB NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty I - PHOTO: This grab taken from a video released by Iran's state broadcaster on April 6, 2026, shows what it says are drones launched at U.S. targets at Saudi Arabia's Al-Kharj base and Kuwait's Al-Adiri base.
Apr 6, 5:38 PMIRGC calls Trump's threats 'baseless'
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps called President Donald Trump's threats to destroy all of Iran’s bridges and power plants if a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz isn't reached "baseless" and vowed to continue their operations. "The rude rhetoric, arrogance and baseless threats of the delusional U.S. president, arising from the deadlock he faces and aimed at justifying the repeated defeats of the U.S. military, will have no effect on the continuation of offensive and crushing operations by the fighters of Islam against U.S. and Israeli enemies, and will not repair the humiliation of the United States in West Asia," IRGC spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaqari said in a statement published in Iranian state media.
Apr 6, 3:27 PMTrump: Planning 4-hour attack Tuesday night if deal not reachedPresident Donald Trump is threatening to destroy all of Iran’s bridges and power plants in a four-hour blitz attack on Tuesday night if the countries don’t agree to a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. ET. "We have a plan because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12:00 tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again," Trump said. "I mean, complete demolition by 12:00, and it will happen over a period of four hours if we want it to. We don't want that to happen."
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: A man stands with an Iranian national flag along an intersection at Valiasr Square in Tehran, April 6, 2026.
The president stressed that any deal must include reopening the Strait of Hormuz, saying, “We have to have a deal that's acceptable to me, and part of that deal is going to be we want free traffic of oil and everything else.” He wouldn’t discuss specifics of ceasefire negotiations but said, “we have a active, willing participant on the other side.” Trump has sent mixed messages for weeks, saying the war with Iran is winding down while also threatening more attacks. Asked which one it is, Trump replied, “I can’t tell you. I don't know." “Depends what they do,” Trump said, before repeating his threat to send Iran back to the “stone ages.” -ABC News’ Mary Bruce
Apr 6, 2:22 PMTrump says Iranian people have asked US to 'keep bombing'ABC News' Mary Bruce asked President Donald Trump at a White House briefing about whether some in Iran might welcome U.S. attacks on the country's infrastructure. “Why would they want you to blow up their infrastructure?" she asked. Trump responded that the Iranians “would be willing to suffer that in order to have freedom.”
Francisco Seco/AP - PHOTO: Pedestrians look at a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh, with the mosque visible in the background, which officials at the site say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday, in Zanjan, Iran, April 4, 2026.
He said the Iranian people have asked the U.S. to “please keep bombing.” “These are people that are living where the bombs are exploding,” Trump said. "And when we leave and we're not hitting those areas, they're saying, ‘Please come back, come back, come back.’” “All I can tell you is they want freedom,” he said. “They have lived in a world that you know nothing about. It's a violent, horrible world where if you protest, you are shot.”
Apr 6, 2:08 PMCIA director says Iran 'humiliated' by successful rescue missionCIA Director John Ratcliffe said the U.S. deployed both human assets and "exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses" to locate the weapons system officer during a rescue operation in Iran this weekend.
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Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Shutterstock - PHOTO: CIA Director John Ratcliffe delivers comments during a media briefing on Iran from the White House in Washington, April 6, 2026.
Ratcliffe said some of the unique capabilities the CIA used are ones that only the president can deploy. He would not publicly divulge what they were. "At the president's direction, we deployed both human assets and exquisite technologies that no other intelligence service in the world possesses to a daunting challenge comparable to hunting for a single ... grain of sand in the middle of a desert," Ratcliffe said. "This was also a race against the clock, as it was critical that we locate the downed aviator as quickly as possible, while at the same time keeping our enemies misdirected," he said. Ratcliffe also said U.S. “intelligence reflects that the Iranians were embarrassed and ultimately humiliated by the success of this audacious rescue mission.” A U.S. fighter jet with two airmen on board was shot down over Iran on Friday, and the jet’s pilot was rescued the same day. The U.S. launched a search for the second missing airman, who was trapped in the "treacherous mountains of Iran" with the Iranian military closing in, President Donald Trump said. That airman was rescued on Sunday. -ABC News’ Mariam Khan
Apr 6, 2:02 PMTrump rails against alleged media leak about downed fighter jetDuring a briefing at the White House, President Donald Trump railed against an alleged leak to the media about the downed U.S. fighter jet, threatening to have the journalist jailed.
Evan Vucci/Reuters - PHOTO: President Donald Trump holds a press conference accompanied by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, April 6, 2026.
“They put this mission at great risk. They put that man at great risk, and they put the hundreds of people that went in looking for him, because everyone now knows that we're going in,” Trump claimed. The president emphasized the need to uncover whomever “leaked” such information. “We have to find that leaker because that's a sick person. Probably didn't realize the extent of how bad it was. I can't imagine that the person did. But we're going to find out. It's national security, and the person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn't say, and that doesn't last long,” Trump said. -ABC News' Fritz Farrow, Allie Pecorin and Emily Chang
Apr 6, 1:52 PMRescued airman's 1st message was 'God is good,' Hegseth says
When the injured airman who was shot down “was finally able to activate his emergency transponder, his first message … [said] ‘God is good,’” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said during a briefing at the White House. “In that moment of isolation and danger, his faith and fighting spirit shown through,” he said. “Shot down on a Friday, Good Friday, hidden in a cave, a crevice all of Saturday, and rescued on Sunday. Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday.” A U.S. fighter jet with two airmen on board was shot down over Iran on Friday, and the jet’s pilot was rescued the same day. The U.S. launched a search for the second missing airman who was trapped in the "treacherous mountains of Iran" with the Iranian military closing in, President Donald Trump said. That airman was rescued on Sunday. Trump said the rescued airman “was injured quite badly and stranded in an area teeming with terrorists.” “Despite the peril, the officer followed his training and climbed into the treacherous mountain terrain and started climbing toward a higher altitude,” Trump said. “He scaled cliff faces, bleeding rather profusely, treated his own wounds, and contacted American forces to transmit his location.”
Apr 6, 1:17 PMTrump: Iran 'can be taken out in one night'
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “doing unbelievably well” in Operation Epic Fury and “at a level that nobody's ever seen before." “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” he said of Iran during a briefing at the White House.
Apr 6, 12:50 PMTrump says Iran 'got a little bit lucky' shooting down US jetsWhen asked about the apparent incongruency between his repeated claims that Iran had no anti-aircraft equipment and the downing of two U.S. jets, President Donald Trump said Iran “got a little bit lucky.” “You know what? When you do thousands and thousands of flights and you have one plane shot down and not mortally, the two pilots got out, they got a little bit lucky,” Trump said.
Reuters - PHOTO: An image released on April 5, 2026, and obtained from social media appears to show wreckage of an American aircraft and a helicopter rotor in Isfahan, Iran.
The president was pressed on why the U.S. remains at war when he has repeatedly said Iran has been “obliterated.” While continuing to claim that Iran is unable to fight back, Trump also said they have “some” missiles and drones left. "It’s a big country. They can't fight back. They have no capability. I mean, they'll have -- they have some missiles left. They have some drones left, but essentially they have no capability," he said. "They had a lucky shot with an airplane, but we got them back out." -ABC News’ Emily Chang, Justin Gomez and Fritz Farrow
Apr 6, 12:32 PMTrump says Americans against war with Iran are 'foolish'President Donald Trump said at the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday that Americans against the war with Iran are “foolish,” saying the conflict is “about one thing: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”“We are obliterating their country. And I hate to do it, but we’re obliterating,” he said.Trump said if he had his “choice,” he’d “take the oil.”“Because it’s there for the taking -- there’s not a thing they can do about it,” Trump said. “Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home. If it were up to me, I’d take the oil, I’d keep the oil, I’d make plenty of money. And I’d also take care of the people of Iran.”“If it were up to me I’d like to keep the oil, I just don’t think the people of the United States would really understand,” he added.
President Donald Trump took questions from reporters during the Easter Egg Roll event at the White House discussing the war with Iran.
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Source: “AOL Breaking”
