Strikes Hit Infrastructure Sites in Iran After Trump’s Threat

President Trump celebrated an attack on a major highway bridge outside of Tehran after vowing to take Iran “back to the Stone Ages.” And a leading public health institution in the country was destroyed.

By Mark LandlerJason KaraianErika Solomon and Zolan Kanno-Youngs

Here’s the latest

A day after President Trump threatened to bomb Iran “back into the Stone Ages,” an  airstrike that a U.S. official said was an American attack caused at least a partial collapse of a major highway bridge, killing at least eight people, according to Iranian news outlets. A leading public health institution in Iran was also destroyed though it was unclear who was responsible.

Mr. Trump on Thursday celebrated the damage to the bridge, which is on a mountainous stretch of road between Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj. He posted a video of a strike hitting the bridge and warned that more critical infrastructure would be destroyed if Iran did not “make a deal.”

Another strike, in Tehran, destroyed the Pasteur Institute of Iran, a major public health agency in the country that produced and distributed vaccines, a spokesman for the health ministry said. It was unclear whether the United States or Israel was responsible.

Iranian officials remained defiant in the face of Mr. Trump’s threats, made in a national address on Wednesday night. Esmail Baghaei, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said in a statement on the country’s state news broadcaster that negotiations with Washington were impossible under current conditions.

The country’s military, despite being battered with thousands of bombs over nearly five weeks, kept up aerial attacks on Israel and U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf. Israel’s military said on Thursday that it had intercepted missiles from Iran, while the United Arab Emirates said its forces had responded to Iranian drones and missiles. The Houthis in Yemen, who are allied with Iran, also launched a missile toward Israel.

“When it comes to defending our homeland, each and every one of us will become a soldier of this country,” Mohammad Ghalibaf, Iran’s speaker of Parliament and a key figure overseeing the war, said on social media. He warned Iranians were “armed, ready and standing,” adding, “Come on in, we’re waiting.”

Here’s what else we’re covering:

• Macron: Growing European frustration with Mr. Trump’s management of the war bubbled over on Thursday, when French President Emmanuel Macron lashed out at the U.S. leader for his shifting war goals and his undermining of the NATO alliance. Speaking to reporters during a trip to South Korea, Mr. Macron criticized Mr. Trump’s attacks on NATO. “If you create doubt every day about your commitment, you hollow it out,” he said.

• Markets: Stocks recovered from morning losses on Thursday, but oil prices rose. Mr. Trump’s remarks on Wednesday night had spooked investors in the morning, but reports of talks between Iran and Oman to monitor but not restrict ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to soothe them. The S&P 500 ended the day 0.1 percent higher, even as Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, surged 7.8 percent to $109.03 per barrel.

• War’s cost: Some estimates suggest the war could cost the United States as much as $1 billion a day, a soaring tally that underscores the economic trade-offs the Trump administration faces as the president had promised to focus on lowering consumer costs and other domestic issues.

• Crackdown in Iran: The Iranian authorities have detained Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer, her daughter said on Thursday. Ms. Sotoudeh has taken on the cases of women accused of not wearing head scarves, and she has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times for her work.

• Security Council: Russia, China and France on Thursday blocked Arab countries pushing the U.N. Security Council to authorize military action against Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying they opposed authorizing force, according to a diplomat and a senior U.N. official. Read more>

• Death tolls: The Human Rights Activists News Agency said at least 1,606 civilians, including 244 children, had been killed in Iran as of Thursday. Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 1,345 Lebanese had been killed as of Thursday, 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 people had been killed as of Friday. The American death toll stands at 13 service members, with hundreds of others wounded.

April 3, 2026, 1:56 a.m. ETApril 3, 2026

Johnatan Reiss

Reporting from Tel Aviv

A drone struck the Mina al-Ahmadi oil refinery in Kuwait on Friday, setting several units ablaze, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said. There were no reports of injuries or environmental impact, it added .The company did not say where the drone came from. It was the latest in a number of attacks on the region’s energy infrastructure since the start of the war on Feb. 28.

April 2, 2026, 7:26 p.m. ETApril 2, 2026

Anushka Patil

Here’s what happened in the war in the Middle East on Thursday

Iranian officials responded with defiance on Thursday after President Trump gave a televised address Wednesday night from the White House in which he vowed to take Iran “back to the Stone Ages” and repeated threats to attack the country’s infrastructure unless a deal was reached.

The speaker of Iran’s Parliament warned that “when it comes to defending our homeland, each and every one of us will become a soldier of this country.” A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, who has repeatedly argued that the country has no reason to trust Mr. Trump’s mediators when Israel and the United States have twice attacked the country in the middle of talks, said that negotiations were not feasible.

More than 100 international law experts signed a letter on Thursday warning that the United States’ conduct in the war and the statements of U.S. officials “raise serious concerns about violations of international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes.”

Here’s what else happened on Thursday:

Iran: An airstrike destroyed the Pasteur Institute of Iran, a renowned public health institution that produces and distributes vaccines, the Iranian government said. A spokesman for the Iranian health ministry called the attack a “direct assault on international health security.”

A highway bridge connecting Tehran and the city of Karaj was also attacked, killing eight people and wounding 95 others, Iranian news media reported. Iran’s state broadcaster said that a second strike hit the bridge as emergency workers were trying to rescue the injured.

A U.S. military official said that American forces were responsible for the attack, which came on the last day of the Iranian new year holiday, when Iranians traditionally celebrate by spending time outdoors. The U.S. official said the bridge was a planned military supply route for Iran’s missile and drone forces, though Iranian news media said the bridge was not yet operational and was not being used by the military. Mr. Trump celebrated the bridge’s destruction, vowing there was “much more to follow.”

At least 1,606 civilians, including 244 children, have been killed in Iran since the war began, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency.

Lebanon: The Israeli defense minister issued a direct threat against the leader of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, saying he would not survive to see the outcome of Israel’s fighting with the group. Israel killed Hezbollah’s previous leader in 2024.

More than 1,345 people in Lebanon have been killed and 4,040 others injured, Lebanese authorities said.

Strait of Hormuz: Military planners from around the world will meet next week to discuss how to make the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passageway for the world’s oil, “accessible and safe for navigation,” the British government said.

Separately, Iran said it would seek to oversee shipping traffic through the strait even after the war. An Iranian deputy foreign minister said that though Iran was drafting a protocol for his country and Oman to monitor transit through the strait, Iran would not be imposing restrictions.

After reports of the talks between Iran and Oman, stocks recovered from some earlier losses, with the S&P 500 ending the day roughly flat. But oil prices rose, with Brent, the international oil benchmark, hitting around $109 per barrel.

Israel: The Israeli military said it had detected missiles fired by Iran and a volley of rockets from Hezbollah. At least one missile was launched from Yemen toward Israel, the Israeli military said, after the Houthi militia in Yemen said last weekend that it would join the war in support of Tehran.

April 2, 2026, 6:02 p.m. ETApril 2, 2026

Yeganeh Torbati and Sanam Mahoozi

Iranians hold a nature festival in the shadow of war

In the shadow of war, some Iranians in the capital city of Tehran gathered outside on Thursday to celebrate Sizdah Bedar, a nature festival marking the 13th day of the Persian new year and the end of the two-week Nowruz holiday period.

Typically on Sizdah Bedar, families picnic outside, gather around rivers or streams, tell stories and take part in simple traditions that bind them to their heritage. This year, the festival took place amid a daily bombardment of Tehran and other parts of the country that has killed civilians, destroyed buildings and infrastructure and brought much of normal life to a grinding halt.

Clusters of families and groups of teenagers gathered on Thursday near Tabiat (Nature) Bridge in northern Tehran, a pedestrian bridge that connects two large parks, and Park-e Mellat, another park nearby. Visible in the background at Tabiat Bridge was a skyscraper that had been damaged in Israeli strikes last year, still shorn of some of its glass paneling.

People prepared chicken kebabs on small grills, posed for pictures, and kicked around soccer balls. It was a brief moment of normalcy in the midst of an unrelentingly difficult few months.

Since the war began, many Tehran residents had left the capital for refuge elsewhere in the country. Coffee shops have been empty in recent days. But several Iranians said that Thursday was the busiest they had seen Tehran in weeks.

April 2, 2026, 4:42 p.m. ETApril 2, 2026

Farnaz Fassihi and Vivian Nereim

Farnaz Fassihi has covered the United Nations for a decade under four American administrations. Vivian Nereim is the Gulf bureau chief.

A bid to use of force to open a key oil pathway hits roadblocks at the U.N. Security Council.

Russia, China and France on Thursday effectively stymied a push by Arab countries to get the United Nations Security Council to authorize military action against Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying they opposed any language authorizing force, according to a diplomat and a senior U.N. official.

The actual vote on the resolution, which was drafted by Bahrain with the support of the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf, is expected to be scheduled for Friday. But it remained unclear whether extra hours of diplomacy would bring the three veto-holding countries on board.

Russia, China and France are among the five permanent members of the council with veto power. There were also divisions over the resolution among the 10 nonpermanent members, according to diplomats.

The current draft resolution is in its fourth revision after weeks of closed-door negotiations. The part of the text that has generated an impasse states that the Security Council “authorizes member States, acting nationally or through voluntary multinational naval partnerships, with advance notifications to the Security Council,” to use all necessary means “to secure transit passage and to deter attempts to close, obstruct or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic choke point where a fifth of the world’s oil and gas normally travels, shortly after the United States and Israel launched a war against it on Feb. 28. The closure has caused global energy disruption, hurt financial markets and increased the costs of oil, shipping and insurance. Iran has also launched thousands of retaliatory attacks on the Arab nations in the Persian Gulf — which host major American bases — killing at least 18 civilians and severely damaging military and energy infrastructure.

Bahrain’s foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, told a session of the Security Council on Thursday that “Iran’s aggressive intentions” toward its Arab neighbors were “treacherous” and “preplanned,” and violated international law. He said Iran had targeted civilian structures such as airports, water stations, seaports and hotels.

Iran signaled on Thursday that it intended to continue to oversee shipping traffic through the critical Strait of Hormuz, even after the war.

For Iran, its Arab neighbors uniting against it at the Security Council represented a serious, perhaps irreparable, deterioration of relations. For years, Iran cultivated closer ties with its neighbors, only to blow them up during the past month of war.

Analysts say the Bahraini-led efforts at the Council are more symbolic than pragmatic; the militaries of most of the Persian Gulf countries are relatively small, and heavily dependent on U.S. support. They have minimal experience combating a military the size of Iran’s.

And France’s president, Emanuel Macron, said on Thursday that President Trump’s comments urging countries that rely on the strait to forcefully open it were unrealistic.

“It is unrealistic because it would take an inordinate amount of time and would expose anyone crossing the strait to coastal threats from the Revolutionary Guards, who possess significant resources, as well as ballistic missiles, a host of other risks,” Mr. Macron said.

Abdulaziz Sager, the chairman of the Gulf Research Center, a think tank based in Saudi Arabia, said any cease-fire agreement must also address Iran’s capability to attack Gulf countries and control maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. “We will not forget what they have done to us, and they will not forget that the U.S. had a lot of facilities here in the Gulf,” he said.

The blocking of the strait has cut off the main export route for the Arab countries, where economies and government budgets depend heavily on fossil fuel revenue. Qatar, one of the world’s largest exporters of natural gas, has been forced to shut down production entirely and declare force majeure, breaking contracts with buyers.

The Qatari government said it expects a $20 billion loss in annual revenue. Most of the Gulf countries had maintained cordial ties with Iran before the war, including Saudi Arabia, which re-established diplomatic relations with Iran in a China-brokered pact in 2023.

Saudi and Emirati officials in particular had come to believe that the best way to manage the threat posed to them by Iran was through nurturing diplomacy and shared economic interests, analysts say.

Bahrain was an exception. An island nation where a Sunni monarchy rules over a Shiite-majority citizenry, Bahrain has long had an antagonistic relationship with Iran, accusing it of meddling in its internal affairs and stirring up dissent.

But in the wake of the war, even countries like Qatar and Oman — which often served as a mediators between the United States and Iran — have indicated that their relationships with the Islamic republic are probably irreparably damaged. They have handed the mediator role to Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt.

Ali Vaez, the Iran director at the International Crisis Group, said the resolution by Bahrain was flawed and risked escalating tensions in the region, pointing out that the closure of the strait is a result of the war and it was open before the strikes. “It treats a political crisis as if it can be solved at gunpoint.”

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April 2, 2026, 4:29 p.m. ETApril 2, 2026

Joe Rennison

Financial markets reporter

Stocks recovered from morning losses to end the day roughly flat but oil prices rose.  President Trump’s remarks on Wednesday night had spooked investors in the morning before reports of talks between Iran and Oman to monitor but not restrict the flow of ships through the Strait of Hormuz appeared to soothe them. The S&P 500 ended the day 0.1 percent higher, even as Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, surged 7.8 percent to $109.03 per barrel.

April 2, 2026, 4:27 p.m. ETApril 2, 2026

Euan WardEdward WongParin Behrooz and Farnaz Fassihi

Euan Ward reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and Edward Wong from Washington, D.C.

President Trump hails destruction of Iran bridge, warning ‘more to follow.’

President Trump celebrated a strike on a highway bridge near Tehran on Thursday, warning on social media that there was “much more to follow.”

The attack on the B1 bridge between Tehran and the shores of the Caspian Sea killed eight people and wounded 95, according to Ghodratollah Seif, the deputy governor of Alborz province.