Author: admin

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has set several deadlines for launching massive attacks on critical Iranian infrastructure if Tehran doesn’t make a peace deal includes reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz since U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran began in February.

Here is a timeline of Trump’s deadlines so far:

March 2

Two days after the U.S. and Israel began attacking Iran, Trump told reporters at the White House, “We projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that.”

March 21

Trump gave a 48-hour ultimatum in a social media post calling on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, which is a trading route off the country’s southern coast that facilitates the transport of a huge amount of the world’s petroleum supply.

“the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” he wrote.

March 23

Trump posted another message on social media, in all caps, announcing a five-day extension “SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.”

March 26

Trump said in a social media post that he was “pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M. Eastern Time.”

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” he wrote.

The president later said he was inclined to provide a 10-day extension because Iran had allowed some oil-carrying ships to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian officials did not comment publicly on the president’s threat. The next day, an Iranian missile struck Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

April 4

The president went on social media around 10 a.m., claiming “time was running out.”

“48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them,” he wrote.

April 5

Trump made several statements to the press and on social media on Easter Sunday that the U.S. was setting a deadline of Tuesday, April 7 at 8 p.m. ET, which would be Wednesday, April 8, at 3:30 a.m. in Tehran.

He also posted profanity laden statement on the holiest day in the Christian calendar on social media, demanding that Iran open the strait or “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”

Trump told ABC News’ Rachel Scott that, if there was no deal in the next 48 hours, “We’re blowing up the whole country.”

April 6

The president held a news conference where he repeatedly made his threats against Iran’s leadership if they don’t come to an agreement with the U.S.

“The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” he said.

April 7

The president made another threat on social media, indicating he could attack Iran in the night.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never be brought back again. I don’t want it to happen, but it probably will,” he wrote.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — As his self-imposed Tuesday night deadline for Iran to make a deal or face massive U.S. attacks draws closer, President Donald Trump’s threatening rhetoric is becoming increasingly ominous, with a seemingly apocalyptic warning that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran doesn’t agree to his demands.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

At the same time, continuing a series of mixed messages, Trump said “maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen” now that the U.S. is dealing with “different, smarter, and less radicalized” leaders in Iran.

“We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World,” the president wrote.

Trump’s issued an ultimatum to Iran to make a peace deal that includes reopening the critical Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. ET, or face bombardment of its critical infrastructure — including all its bridges, power plants and desalination facilities.

Trump first threatened to target Iran’s civilian infrastructure on March 21, saying the sites would be hit in 48 hours if no deal was made. He’s backed away and extended the deadline several times, citing what he described as successful talks.

But the past few days, he’s ratcheted up his threats. On Sunday, he told ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott that “we’re blowing up the entire country” if no agreement was reached.

On Monday, he told reporters in the White House briefing room that “the entire country could be taken out in one night” and the U.S. had plans that could wipe out Iran’s power plants and bridges, sending it back to the “stone ages,” within four hours.

In the background, negotiations were taking place between the U.S. and Iran via mediators like Pakistan.

According to a U.S. official and another person close to the ongoing talks, mediators are attempting broker a 45-day ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran ahead of Trump’s Tuesday deadline. Iran signaled it would not accept the mediators’ proposal on Monday, responding instead with its own 10-point plan, which a U.S. official described as maximalist. 

“We are dealing with them. I think it’s going well,” Trump said on Monday, adding that Vice President JD Vance and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff was involved in the negotiations.

“I think it’s going fine but we’ll have to see,” the president said.

Oscillating between threats of major attacks and talks of diplomacy, Trump was asked on Monday if the war was winding down or escalating.

“I don’t know. I can’t tell you,” he told reporters. “It depends what they do. This is a critical period.”

The New York Times and others reported on Tuesday that Iran told Pakistan it was no longer engaging in ceasefire talks. ABC News has not confirmed the report.

The White House, responding to the reports, told ABC News that the “only the president knows where things stand.” 

“The Iranian regime has until 8 p.m. Eastern Time to meet the moment and make a deal with the United States. Only the President knows where things stand and what he will do,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. 

Tehran has vowed a “regret-inducing” response should the U.S. wipe out its energy infrastructure. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday told neighboring Gulf countries it will no longer show “restraint” in selecting regional targets for retaliation.

Iran’s deputy minister of sports and youth, Alireza Rahimi, invited people to form human chains around the country’s electricity power plants in a video message published on Monday, according to the government’s Telegram channel.

In the U.S., Trump’s increasingly grave threats have prompted some rare Republican pushback.

Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, said he hopes Trump’s latest comments are “bluster.”

“I do not want to see us start blowing up civilian infrastructure … We are not at war with the Iranian people. We are trying to liberate them,” Johnson said on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast.

Some experts have warned that possible attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime and violate international law.

“I’m not worried about it,” Trump said on Monday. “You know what’s a war crime? Having a nuclear weapon. Allowing a sick country with demented leadership have a nuclear weapon, that’s a war crime.”

ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian, Shannon Kingston and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson broke with President Donald Trump on his threats to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, saying in a podcast, “I hope and pray” he is “using this as bluster.”

“I do not want to see us start blowing up civilian infrastructure … We are not at war with the Iranian people. We are trying to liberate them,” Johnson, a Trump ally who rarely breaks with the president, said on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast out on Monday.

Johnson’s comments came after Trump has threatened to bomb bridges and power plants, which would be devastating for Iranian civilians. Some experts have warned that such actions could violate international law; many Democrats are saying it amounts to war crimes.

Trump has said that he will target those bridges and power plants in Iran if they don’t open up the critical Strait of Hormuz — giving Iran a deadline of 8 p.m. ET Tuesday to act.

Other lawmakers reacted to Trump’s social media post on Tuesday, hours ahead of his self-imposed deadline, in which he threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” although he said “I don’t want that to happen.”

This comes on the heels of an Easter Sunday social media post where Trump threatened “Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz weren’t opened up.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, called President Trump an “extremely sick person” for threatening that a “whole civilization will die tonight.”

“Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is,” Schumer said in a post on X.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also called on Republicans to act.

“Congress must immediately end this reckless war of choice in Iran before Donald Trump plunges us into World War III. It’s time for every single Republican to put patriotic duty over party and stop the madness. Enough,” Jeffries said in a statement posted on X.

ABC News has reached out to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson for comment.

Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to act as the war — now in its sixth week — continues.

Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, of Washington, called Trump’s threat “outrageous, dangerous, and unhinged.”

“Trump’s illegal war in Iran has already led to enormous death and destruction, including a school bombing that killed over 100 children. Congress must immediately act to rein him in before more people die,” Jayapal wrote in a post on X.

Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, of Illinois, said in a statement on X that Trump’s threat amounts to “mass murder” and that he is “urging every Cabinet Member and Republican leadership to call the President IMMEDIATELY.”

“The Iranian people do not deserve this,” Quigley wrote.

Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, of California, slammed Trump’s rhetoric, saying, “Threatening the annihilation of an entire civilization is dangerous beyond words, and hearing it from the person commanding our military should alarm every American.”

“This language is completely unacceptable from any president, let alone one who started this war without authorization from Congress and has no plan for what comes next,” Levin wrote.

Other conservative voices are breaking with Trump over his Iran threats.

Conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson offered scathing criticism of the president, blasting his recent threats toward Iran and specifically Trump’s profanity-laden threat to Iran on Easter Sunday.

“It is really the most real thing this president has ever done, and also the most revealing on every level. It is vile on every level,” Carlson said of Trump’s Sunday post during “The Tucker Carlson Show” on Monday. 

Carlson scolded the president directly, saying, “how dare you speak that way,” adding that Trump’s post was a “mockery of Christianity.”

Trump fired back at Carlson in a social media post on Tuesday morning, calling him a “low IQ person that has absolutely no idea what’s going on.”

ABC News’ Allison Pecorin, Lauren Peller, Nicholas Kerr and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance is in Hungary on Tuesday, meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of President Donald Trump, ahead of the country’s April 12 election which could threaten Orbán’s long hold on power.

Although Vance has downplayed the idea that he traveled to Hungary to shore up support for Orbán, the upcoming election in the country was the centerpiece of Vance’s remarks during his joint press conference in Budapest on Tuesday, where he praised the authoritarian leader.

“And of course, I want to help as much as I possibly can, the prime minister as he faces this election season, which I believe is happening in just about a week, the election to elect the next Prime Minister of Hungary,” Vance said.

Orbán, who is seeking his fifth term, faces criticism over the decline of democracy in the country as he and his allies have destroyed checks and balances and taken control of the country’s media.

He faces a strong challenge from opposition leader Peter Magyar, who was once part of the prime minister’s party, but launched his own in 2024 and began attacking Orbán’s Fidesz party over alleged corruption.

The authoritarian leader has long been a close ally of Trump and was among the first European leaders to endorse him in the 2016 presidential election. Orbán’s nationalist party has become a model for MAGA populists, particularly for its aggressive stance on immigration.

Orban met with Trump three times in 2024, one of those visits coming after Trump won the 2024 election. Orbán has spoken several times at the Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC.

Most recently, Orbán, also an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, visited Trump at the White House in November, where he received a special exemption from sanctions imposed on Russian oil because of its invasion of Ukraine. Hungary is a major importer of Russian energy and the sanctions would have impacted the country’s already weakening economy.

Vance on Tuesday said that Orbán, along with Trump, has done the most to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

​”The war would have never started … if President Trump had been president four years ago, but now that it has started, probably the two leaders who have done the most to actually end that destructive conflict have been Donald J. Trump and Viktor Orban in Hungary,” Vance said.

While Hungary is a member of the European Union, Orbán has repeatedly attacked it and clashed with his European counterparts on several issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, using his veto power to try to block the EU’s efforts to support Ukraine.

Trump has already endorsed Orbán in his reelection bid and has praised him, calling him “strong and powerful.”

​During his remarks, Orbán thanked Trump and Vance for standing by Hungary over the past few years.

​”We owe gratitude to President Trump and Vice President Vance for standing by Hungary during the past years, the United States of America is the strongest country in the world, and I am happy to say that they are our allies today, the peace and the security of Hungary, therefore, is guaranteed,” Orbán said.

Vance’s trip to Hungary follows Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit in February, during which he reinforced the Trump administration’s support of the embattled Orbán.

In early 2025, Vance delivered blistering remarks at the Munich Security Conference, where he made the argument to European lawmakers to pay attention to the interests of conservative voters, take stronger actions on immigration and that Europe was moving towards censorship and away from Democracy.

Vance’s remarks were not well received by many European allies, with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius saying at the time that it appeared that Vance was comparing parts of Europe to “authoritarian regimes,” calling it “unacceptable.”

ABC’s Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MADISON, Wis) — Wisconsinites will vote for a new state Supreme Court justice on Tuesday in a race that could maintain or widen the court’s liberal majority for years.

In a state home to some of the country’s tightest races, Democrats have won four of the last five Supreme Court elections by large margins. President Donald Trump carried Wisconsin by less than a percentage point in 2024.  

Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judges Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar are competing for an open seat to replace retiring conservative-aligned Justice Rebecca Bradley. Unlike last year’s race, the ideological balance of the court is not in play. Yet the seven-member body has resolved disputes between the GOP-controlled state legislature and the Democratic governor.

In 2020, the court narrowly rejected a Trump lawsuit that would have tossed out more than 220,000 absentee ballots. And with the governor’s seat and control of the statehouse up for grabs, this year could prove no different. Justices are elected to 10-year terms and could potentially hear election or redistricting-related litigation in the future.

Taylor is a former Dane County Circuit Court judge and former Democratic lawmaker representing deep-blue Madison in the state assembly. Lazar is a former Waukesha County Circuit Court judge and assistant attorney general during former Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s tenure.

Though the race is nominally nonpartisan, the candidates have received endorsements from political figures. Former President Barack Obama endorsed Taylor, while Republican congressmen, including GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Tom Tiffany, endorsed Lazar.

In 2023, liberals flipped the majority to 4-3 for the first time in 15 years. In 2025, another liberal victory preserved their control of the court until at least 2028.

Lazar is a self-described constitutional conservative who has focused her messaging on restoring impartiality to the court. She called Taylor “a radical, extreme legislator” while her opponent labeled Lazar as an extremist with a “right-wing political agenda” in a debate aired Thursday by ABC affiliate WISN.

The shadow of Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, struck down by the court in 2025, also loomed large this year.

Asked how she would have ruled on that case, Lazar declined to answer. But she reiterated that she will honor the ruling, which reinstated what she called the “20-week compromise” in place before the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Though this race is attracting less national attention than in years prior, Taylor campaigned on similar issues that have worked in Democrats’ favor. A former policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, her messaging has focused on protecting abortion and democracy.

She also hasn’t shied away from addressing bread-and-butter issues. In one ad, she warned of rising costs and “extremists” stripping Wisconsinites of food assistance.

Taylor entered the race in May 2025. She significantly outraised and outspent Lazar, who launched her campaign five months later. Taylor raised nearly $2.1 million between Feb. 3 and March 23, while Lazar raised about $474,000 in the same period.

Compared to the record-setting levels of spending in the 2025 race, it’s a drop in the bucket. That race saw total spending surpass $100 million, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk barnstormed Wisconsin that year, handing out controversial million-dollar checks and warning “Western civilization” was at stake.

There are roughly 3.6 million active registered voters in the state as of this month, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The latest tally shows that 324,396 people voted early.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central time. The new term will take effect on Aug. 1.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.