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President Trump continues suggesting a deal to end the Iran war could come soon, but as Tehran downplays the prospects of a diplomatic resolution and global oil prices soar again, he’s also renewing his threat to strike Iranian power plants and other civilian infrastructure.
The U.S. now has hundreds of special operations forces in the Middle East as President Trump threatens to “take the oil in Iran,” with ground forces possibly being used to seize vital Iranian infrastructure. Iran has warned that it is waiting for the arrival of U.S. forces, “to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever.”
Iran — along with its proxy forces Hezbollah in Lebanon and now the Houthis in Yemen — continues to launch missiles and drones at Israel and Persian Gulf states, with explosions reported Monday around Israeli oil infrastructure in the northern city of Haifa.

3:33 AM / March 31, 2026
China expresses “gratitude” after, it says, 3 of its vessels transited Hormuz strait
Beijing expressed “gratitude” Tuesday as it said three Chinese ships had transited the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has all but closed during the war in the Middle East.

“Following coordination with relevant parties, three Chinese vessels recently transited the Strait of Hormuz; we express our gratitude to the relevant parties for the assistance provided,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press conference.

Gulf allies of the United States, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are urging President Trump to continue prosecuting the war against Iran, arguing that Tehran hasn’t been weakened enough by the monthlong U.S.-led bombing campaign, according to U.S., Gulf and Israeli officials.

After private grumbling at the start of the war that they weren’t given adequate advance notice of the U.S.-Israeli attack, and complaining the U.S. had ignored their warnings that the war would have devastating consequences for the entire region, some of the regional allies are making the case to the White House that the moment offers a historic opportunity to cripple Tehran’s clerical rule once and for all.

Officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain have conveyed in private conversations that they don’t want the military operation to end until there are significant changes in the Iranian leadership or there’s a dramatic shift in Iranian behavior, according to the officials who weren’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The push from the Gulf nations comes as Mr. Trump vacillates between claiming that Iran’s decimated leadership is ready to settle the conflict and threatening to further escalate the war if a deal is not reached soon.

Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau said he will retire later this year, days after drawing criticism for an English-only condolence message following this month’s deadly crash in New York.

Canada’s largest airline, based in French-speaking Quebec, said Rousseau, who is 68, told the board he will leave by the end of September. Air Canada, which is required by law to offer flight service in both English and French, said it will search for a new CEO who has “the ability to communicate in French.”

The crash occurred on March 22, when an Air Canada Jazz flight from Montreal arrived at New York’s LaGuardia Airport and collided with a fire-and-rescue vehicle on a runway. The plane’s two pilots were killed in the crash. They were Antoine Forest, a French-speaking Quebecer, and Mackenzie Gunther, a graduate of Toronto’s Seneca Polytechnic.

After the crash, Rousseau delivered his condolence video message in English, with French subtitles.

Canada is an officially bilingual nation, and Prime Minister Mark Carney had said the English-only message showed a lack of compassion and judgment. Quebec’s premier and others called on the airline executive to resign, while the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages has received hundreds of complaints.

Steven MacKinnon, Canada’s transport minister, thanked Rousseau in a social media post and said the government will continue to work closely with Air Canada to ensure it “provides safe, reliable, affordable and bilingual service to all Canadians.”

Quebec Premier François Legault noted that when Rousseau was appointed president of the airline in February 2021, he promised to learn French. Before serving as Air Canada’s CEO, Rousseau had worked as the airline’s deputy CEO and chief financial officer.

Quebec’s identity has been contentious since the 1760s, when the British completed their takeover of what was then called New France. Quebec is about 80% French-speaking.

There was an emotional reunion for at least 10 families Monday in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, and the beginning of a new chapter in the dramatic story of more than two dozen children born prematurely into the chaos of Israel’s war with Hamas.

In November 2023, at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, dozens of premature babies wrapped in aluminum foil in a desperate bid to protect them from frigid weather grabbed international headlines as the hospital, under siege by Israeli forces, ran out of fuel to keep its life-saving medical equipment running.

In an operation carried out by the Red Crescent, with help from the United Nations, more than two dozen tiny babies were moved across the southern Gaza border into Egypt for urgent medical care. Most of them survived the ordeal, but they were unable to return home to Gaza as Israel kept the border crossing sealed until early this year, with operations against Hamas still taking place daily.

As a result, many families stuck in Gaza — including some of the parents — had not been able to meet the children. But that changed Monday.

“Today, a half an hour from now, I will meet my daughter for the first time, as if I were giving birth to her today. It’s an indescribable feeling,” Sundus Al-Kurd, one of the mothers gathered in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, waiting to meet their children, told CBS News.

“I have mixed emotions,” Al-Kurd said. “Fear that my daughter will not recognize us or accept us, and happiness as a mother reunited with her child once again.”

A total of 28 babies arrived in Egypt in 2023. Seven died and some had made it back across the border during previous ceasefires, but the Ministry of Health in Gaza said 10 were brought back to the territory by bus on Monday. A few of the parents had managed to join their babies — now about two-and-a-half years old — in Egypt, leaving the rest of their families behind in Gaza.

When a hiker fell from a 180-foot waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which couldn’t be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite pet and owner.

A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24 but they were forced to leave without her pet.

Molly was bedraggled and hungry when she was found Tuesday, just a few meters from the spot where the hiker had been lucky to survive.

“I contacted her in hospital and said I’d go for a look for it,” said Matt Newton, the owner-operator of Precision Helicopters New Zealand, which is based at Hokitika Gorge near the Arahura River where Molly went missing. “I went and looked for the dog several times and no avail.”

Unwilling to give up, Newton and his family launched a fundraiser to pay for more flying hours and advanced search gear. Offers of help and donations poured in, with strangers pledging more than 11,000 New Zealand dollars ($6,300) for a search.

It was enough to fund three more hours in a helicopter using thermal imaging equipment. On Tuesday, Newton took to the skies with a veterinary nurse, volunteer searchers and a dog named Bingo in a renewed search for Molly.

“We struck jackpot within about an hour,” he said. “As we made our way up the river, we could see the dog in the thermal and then we could visually see it.”

There had been no sign of Molly at the waterfall when Newton previously searched the spot, he said. It wasn’t clear if the dog had also fallen from the waterfall or if she had eventually made her way to the spot where her injured owner landed.

The helicopter dropped low enough for a volunteer to disembark with the rescue dog Bingo to help coax Molly to safety and keep her calm.

President Trump warned late Thursday the U.S. “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran,” and previewed that strikes on bridges and power plants could be next.
A day earlier, the president asserted in a prime-time speech that the U.S.’s objectives in the Iran war are nearly met, and said Iran’s military capabilities have been effectively decimated. But he offered few new details on how the war might wrap up or whether the U.S. is planning to force open the Strait of Hormuz, instead vowing to carry out two or three more weeks of “extremely hard” strikes.
Investors took little heart in Mr. Trump’s remarks. Oil prices surged on Thursday, and U.S. gas prices are averaging over $4 a gallon, hitting motorists, delivery drivers and farmers hard. Analysts say groceries could be next.
Iran has threatened “more destructive” retaliatory attacks to come.

11:06 PM / April 2, 2026
Strikes on an Iranian bridge kill 8, local authorities say
A set of strikes on Iran’s B1 bridge killed at least eight people and wounded 95 more, Iran’s state media said, citing authorities in the Alborz province.

People had gathered under the bridge, which was still under construction, and along the riverbank to celebrate “Nature Day,” Iranian state media said.

President Trump referenced the strike on the B1 bridge, located west of Tehran in the city of Karaj, in a social media post earlier Thursday. He urged Iran to “make a deal.”

“The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!” he said on Truth Social, posting a video of the collapsing bridge.