President Trump Delivers Primetime Update On War With Iran

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Thursday, April 2nd, 2026. I'm John Sassier. President Trump speaking to the nation and the world last night at the White House, where he gave us an update on the military conflict with Iran. The president has been threatening to next target Iranian energy infrastructure insists he's negotiating with officials there, but this whole thing continues to drag on. He's controlled the escalation ladder well and not targeted some of that core civilian energy infrastructure, desalination plants, as well as the oil processing facilities. But ultimately,

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President Trump of the White House Wednesday night addressing the nation on the Iran war, saying the military is achieving its goals of eliminating Iran's military capabilities and defense industry. Victories like few people have ever seen before. Tonight, Iran's Navy is gone. Their air forces in ruins, their leaders, most of them, terrorist regime they led are now dead. The president also urging allies to take over the Strait of Hormin, moves in order to ease rising oil prices. Go to the straight and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves.

Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done, so it should be easy. He promised the war could be over in two or three weeks, and the military is running close to or ahead of schedule and achieving all its goals. Until then, gas prices rise, and so do the concerns of the American people. What we saw last night was essentially a recap of how the first 30 days has gone. Yesterday, it's former advisor to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. He's Justin Fulcher.

And then I think much of it has been a consistent repetition of some of the things that President Trump and others have said over the past few weeks. But I think ultimately, you know, at this critical juncture one month in, a lot of people have questions on, you know, potentially how much longer this will go on. And so I think it was wise for the president to address that. But I think ultimately we saw a strong repetition of a lot of the core principles he's been sharing over the past few weeks. Now, a lot of people are wondering.

I think the whole world is wondering now, how long is this going to go on? And it makes you wonder even more when you look up at the gas station. And you see the average price of the gallon of gasoline up over $4 now. It's risen over a dollar now as this war has continued on. You've got the straight of Hormuz, which remains a big question. Other countries are getting together and try to figure out how they might be able to reopen that and get the ship traffic moving once again. As things stand right now, Justin, most polls have a majority of Americans not supporting this military action.

in the Middle East. Do you think President Trump's speech last night did anything to sway that anti-war crowd? Well, I think what he really highlighted was some of the significant military developments that I've been made. But I think, you know, ultimately a lot of people can get behind the fact that, you know, Iran has been, you know, a strong state sponsor of terror all across the globe and has affected, you know, American or allies for decades. That being said, I think, you know, President Trump is also balancing a very difficult reality of, of oil prices and the price of gas going up significantly across the country. And so, you know, ultimately, I do think it's good for President Trump who speak directly to, to Americans. There's so much,

you know, opportunity for things to get lost, you know, in the noise. But hearing directly from him, I think, is ultimately the most powerful tool he has to communicate. Yeah. And of course, it's an election. New York, the midterm elections in November. So those gas prices so high right now may not bode well at the polls at that time. Of course, we still have months to figure that out, but it's just another factor to weigh in on how the president acts during this war. Justin Fulcher, you mentioned that the president recapped a lot of the accomplishment so far in Iran, taking out their Navy, taking on a lot of missile launchers, disabling their ability to launch as many drones and missiles, so we know that. But it seems like the next steps in this war might be targeting Iranian infrastructure.

The president has threatened to go after their power infrastructure. And even last night, he said multiple times, send them back to the Stone Age. To me, that meant going after things like power plants. What is the next move in this war, in your view? I think President Trump has been clear that, you know, from the beginning, military action is used to, you know, try to achieve a political gain here. And I think ultimately, his desire is to, you know, off-ramp the war with negotiations with leadership in Iran. That, that being said, I think ultimately, he's always backed it up with real credible threats of escalation, should they stop any and all of those negotiations. I think he's controlled the escalation ladder wealth and not targeted some of that core

civilian, you know, energy infrastructure, desalination plants, as well as the oil processing facilities. But ultimately, he can't take that off the table to keep Iran negotiating in play. Even if Iran is negotiating, it seems like the leverage, a little bit of leverage that they do have, they haven't given it up that much. And I'm talking specifically about their ability to strike other Gulf states, United Arab Emirates. Of course, they've been launching strikes in Israel as well. And then their big piece of leverage, the Strait of Hormuz,

they still have been able to disrupt that ship traffic. As the president, it seems kind of frustrated that we haven't been able to get that straight of Hormuz thing figured out. Now, we're a month into the war, and Iran still is exercising this leverage, although it may be lessened thanks in U.S. military strikes. Is there any way Iran could actually come out of? this winning this war just by surviving a little bit longer and keeping their leverage. It seems like the president, despite his negotiation, hasn't been able to get up those, hasn't been able to get

Iran to give up those two main things. Well, I think this is certainly a dynamic and challenging situation. I think we've seen historically, President Trump has handled these complex situations quite well. That being said, I mean, the straight of war moves still being contested is, is of course, a massive challenge that still needs to be resolved. And Iran has proven that they still have asymmetric capabilities by targeting some of the U.S. allies in the region. And they've targeted some of those civilian infrastructure as well. So I think ultimately, you know,

President Trump has essentially no other choice but to, you know, more strongly reiterate the escalation potential here. And while has kept the strikes predominantly to military targets, civilian energy infrastructure is not off the table as a formal escalation. The war with Iran is front and center once again today, although there's a bit of breaking news to discuss. Attorney General Pam Bondi is out at that position. Deputy A.Todd Blanche will step in on an interim basis until they figure out

who replaced Pam Bondi. Reports indicating Pam Bondi was told she was out by the president just before his speech on Iran last night. Our guest today is former advisor to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth with Justin Fultz. We're going to get his take on this situation. coming up next. Nearly home. Isn't home where we all want to be? Reba here for Realtor.com,

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Pros number one most trusted app based on August 2024 proprietary survey. Over 500,000 new listings every month based on average new for sale and rental listings. February 24 through January 2025. And if you're in Iran right now hearing that, that's not a good thing. I mean, we've kind of seen what's been happening in Cuba right now as the president has cut off the oil coming from Venezuela to that country. There's some flowing in from Russia currently, but they've got a power crisis there, energy crisis.

And if suddenly Iran can't desalinate water, if suddenly their energy infrastructure goes down, you're going to see big blackouts in there. Something most definitely affecting their very large civilian population. Justin Fulcher, his former advisor to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, he joins us here on the Fox News rundown as we continue our coverage of Operation Epic Fury. Let's check in on Israel because they also, Justin were watching President Trump's speech last night. And as you mentioned, he kind of didn't lay out an exact timeline, but said probably a couple of weeks we're going to be at this war with Iran. What about Israel, though? I mean, they are right there in the Middle East.

I feel like they're front center as well, going after not only Iran, but many of their proxy groups, things like Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels. Where do you think Iran's, Israel that is, stands right now? Even if the United States pulls back, do you think Israel will continue their military action? I think while we've seen a tremendous overlap in operations between the United States of Israel, Israel, of course, just like America does, has their own objectives. And I think despite, you know, a lot of alignment over the past few weeks,

because we've, you know, pulls out from the strikes in Iran. I think, you know, Israel may continue pursuing their own objectives. And I think ultimately, you know, time will tell of if and when, you know, the U.S. off ramps quickly. That being said, I think Israel has seen a tremendous win geopolitically with U.S. and Israeli involvement in Iran. Yeah, Israel was able to get the United States into this conflict as well. We have spent not only many military resources, but blood as well as many U.S. service members have been killed during this military action. definitely don't want to gloss over that whatsoever. Speaking today with former advisor to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Justin Fultcher.

Justin is actually some breaking news today within the Trump administration, but the Attorney General Pam Bondi, we've learned that she is being ousted from that position. The Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will serve as an interim role. Just your take. I mean, having worked in the Trump administration, were you surprised about the Pam Bondi firing? And what do you think this means going forward for the Department of Justice? I think President Trump was elected to, you know, restore accountability. And I think ultimately President Trump, as he should, has every right to,

attorney general and maybe see if someone else gets in there too. There's been a lot of rumors out there about who might be nominated officially for Attorney General. I know Lee Zeldin's name has definitely been pushed out, but we're kind of in a wait and see situation with that one as well. So waiting for an end of this war in Iran and waiting to see who the next official attorney general is. You don't have to wait anymore for Justin Fultcher. He's former advisor to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and a frequent guest here on the Fox News Rundown podcast. Justin, thanks for your time today. Thanks for your time.

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