President Donald Trump is ready to handle the nation Wednesday night and offer an update on the war in Iran, his first prime-time speech since launching strikes alongside Israel greater than a month ago.
The speech will offer Trump a large audience to articulate clear objectives for the war that would try to reconcile weeks of fixing goals and sometimes contradictory messages about whether he’s winding down or able to escalate military operations — at the same time as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors and airstrikes pounded Tehran.
It comes amid rising oil prices, volatile financial markets and polling showing many Americans feel the U.S. military has gone too far in Iran — at the same time as more American troops move into the region for a possible ground offensive. Trump opted to not deliver such an address closer to when the U.S. and Israel first launched attacks 4 1/2 weeks ago, and questions now remain about whether it’s now too late for what he says to interrupt through.
A White House official, who was not authorized to talk publicly ahead of the address and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president will talk concerning the U.S. progress on achieving his goals in Iran and can reiterate his estimated timeline for concluding operations inside two to 3 weeks.
Trump adopts belligerent tone before speech as Iran appeals to American public
In a social media post Wednesday morning, Trump maintained a belligerent tone, demanding that Iran stop blocking the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway vital to global oil supplies — or the U.S. would bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages.” The president has also said the U.S. “won’t have anything to do with” ensuring the safety of ships passing through Hormuz — an apparent backtrack from a previous threat to attack Iran’s power grid if it didn’t open the strait by April 6.
In one other post, he claimed that “Iran’s Latest Regime President” wanted a ceasefire. It wasn’t clear to whom the U.S. president was referring since Iran still has the identical president. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump’s claim “false and baseless,” in line with a report on Iranian state television.
Speaking earlier to Al Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled Tehran’s willingness to maintain fighting. “You can not speak to the people of Iran within the language of threats and deadlines,” he said. “We don’t set any deadline for defending ourselves.”
Get each day National news
Get each day Canada news delivered to your inbox so you may never miss the day’s top stories.
Hours before Trump’s address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a lengthy letter in English on his X account appealing to U.S. residents and stressing that his country had pursued negotiations before the U.S. withdrew from that path. “Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war?” he wrote.
No signs of Iran relinquishing its grip on the Strait of Hormuz
Because the war began on Feb. 28, Trump has offered shifting objectives and repeatedly has said it might be over soon while also threatening to widen the conflict. Hundreds of additional U.S. troops are currently heading to the Middle East, and speculation abounds about why.
Trump has also threatened to attack Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub. And the U.S. could resolve to send in military forces to secure Iran’s uranium stockpile — a complex and dangerous operation, fraught with radiation and chemical dangers, experts and former government officials say.
Adding to the confusion is what role Israel — which has been bombing Iran alongside the U.S. — might play in any of those scenarios.
Trump has been under growing pressure to finish the war that has been pushing up the associated fee of gasoline, food and other goods. The value of Brent crude, the international standard, is up greater than 40% for the reason that start of the war.
It’s unclear where diplomatic efforts stand.
The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed toward bringing a couple of ceasefire, including a requirement for the strait to be reopened and for its nuclear program to be rolled back.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. And in a report last week by Iranian state TV’s English-language broadcaster, an anonymous official was quoted as saying Iran had its own demands to finish the fighting, including retaining sovereignty over the strait.
Within the interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. He insisted, nevertheless, that there have been no direct negotiations and said Iran has no faith that talks with the U.S. could yield any results, saying “the trust level is at zero.”
He warned against any U.S. try to launch a ground offensive, saying “we’re waiting for them.”
In a deal ostensibly to present diplomacy a probability, U.S. officials have given “clear assurances” that Araghchi and Iran’s Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf won’t be targeted, in line with three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to talk publicly concerning the matter.
Iran hits tanker off Qatar’s coast and attacks other Gulf states
A cruise missile slammed into an oil tanker off Qatar’s coast Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said. The crew was evacuated and no casualties were reported. A Kuwaiti oil tanker got here under attack off Dubai the day before, one among greater than 20 ships attacked by Iran in the course of the war.
Within the United Arab Emirates, an individual was killed when he was hit by debris from an intercepted drone in Fujairah, one among the country’s seven emirates.
In Kuwait, the state-run KUNA news agency said a drone hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a big fire.
Very early Thursday, Israel’s military said Iran had launched missiles on the country.
In Iran, authorities say greater than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel. Greater than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, while 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
© 2026 The Canadian Press