Iran held annual military drills with Russia on Thursday while a second U.S. aircraft carrier drew closer to the Middle East, as both nations signal they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran’s nuclear program fizzle out.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he believes 10 to 15 days is “enough time” for Iran to reach a deal.
But the talks have been deadlocked for years; indirect talks held in recent weeks did little to change that. Iran has refused to discuss wider U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups.
“It’s proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran, and we have to make a meaningful deal. Otherwise, bad things happen,” Trump said.
The movements of additional American warships and airplanes don’t guarantee a U.S. strike on Iran — but they bolster Trump’s ability to carry out one should he choose to do so.
The latest:
Hochul: Trump said the lesson from Minnesota was ‘we’ll only go where we’re wanted’
New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul said that Trump was asked during a breakfast with governors what the lessons from immigration enforcement in Minnesota were, and that the president responded that from now on “we’ll only go where we’re wanted.”
He added, according to Hochul, that “for example, I won’t go to New York unless Kathy calls and says she wants me to come to New York.”
“I took that as a very positive outcome from this meeting,” Hochul told reporters.
Virginia Democrats pass map that could flip 4 US House seats, if courts and voters approve
Democrats passed a new congressional map through the Virginia legislature on Friday that aims to help their party win four more seats in the national redistricting battle. It’s a flex of state Democrats’ political power, however hurdles remain before they can benefit from friendlier U.S. House district boundaries in this year’s midterm elections.
A judge in Tazewell, a conservative area in Southwest Virginia, has effectively blocked a voter referendum on the redrawn maps from happening on April 21 by granting a temporary restraining order, issued Thursday.
Democrats are appealing that decision and another by the same judge, who ruled last month that Democrats illegally rushed the planned voter referendum on their constitutional amendment to allow the remapping. The state’s Supreme Court picked up the party’s appeal of the earlier ruling.
If Democrats get to carry out a referendum, voters will choose whether to temporarily adopt new congressional districts and then return to Virginia’s standard process after the 2030 census. Democrats wanted to publish the new map ahead of the April vote.
▶ Read more about the redistricting battle
Trump administration plans for possible reopening o
f embassy in Syria
The Trump administration has informed Congress that it intends to proceed with planning for a potential re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, which was shuttered in 2012 during the country’s civil war.
A notice to congressional committees earlier this month obtained by The Associated Press informed lawmakers of the State Department’s “intent to implement a phased approach to potentially resume embassy operations in Syria.”
The administration has been considering re-opening the embassy since last year, shortly after longtime strongman Bashar Assad was ousted in Dec. 2024.
The department took a similar “phased” approach to its plans to re-open the U.S. embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, following the U.S. military operation that ousted former President Nicolas Maduro with the deployment of temporary staffers who would work and live out of interim facilities.
However, in the case of the Damascus embassy, details of the plans to re-open remain classified.
Trump to travel to China at the end of next month
The White House on Friday confirmed that the president will be traveling from March 31 to April 2 for his scheduled meeting with President Xi Jinping in China.
Trump has said Xi will also visit the U.S. at the end of the year, but dates have not been released for that planned visit.
US hits Chilean officials with visa bans for compromising telecoms security
The Trump administration has hit three Chilean government officials with travel bans for their alleged involvement in activities that the U.S. says have compromised critical telecommunications infrastructure in the South American country and undermined regional security.
The State Department said Thursday that the three officials, who were not named, and their immediate family members would have any current U.S. visas revoked and be subject to new restrictions that would render them generally ineligible to enter the United States.
Trump has made no secret of his unhappiness with the outgoing Chilean government of former President Gabriel Boric and has welcomed the upcoming presidency of right-wing politician Jose Antonio Kast who takes office next month.
“In its twilight, the Boric government’s legacy shall be further tarnished by actions that undermine regional security at the ultimate expense of the Chilean people,” the statement said. “ We look forward to advancing shared priorities, including those that strengthen security in our hemisphere, with the incoming Kast Administration.”
House Democrats’ Super PAC vows to continue campaigning on Trump’s tariffs despite court decision
“The Supreme Court’s decision clarifies the law, but it doesn’t rewrite history,” House Majority PAC, one of the main political action committees backing House Democratic candidates, said in a statement.
“Vulnerable House Republicans repeatedly voted to enable Trump’s tariffs, which raised prices and wreaked economic havoc on American families and businesses. Their constituents have paid the price, and House Majority PAC will ensure Republicans are held accountable for their votes come November,” the organization said in a statement.
Democratic senator files resolution intended to limit Trump’s ability to attack Iran
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia says he is filing a war powers resolution that would require Trump to get congressional approval before launching an attack on Iran.
Kaine’s move is intended to build political opposition to an attack as the president has threatened war if negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program don’t work.
The war powers resolution has practically no chance of becoming law, in part because Trump himself would have to sign it, but a bipartisan group of senators has already forced votes on several resolutions that apply to Venezuela.
None of those resolutions passed, but they were successful in showing how lawmakers are troubled by some of Trump’s aggressive foreign policy maneuvers.
Kaine will be able to force a vote on the resolution in 10 days.
“If some of my colleagues support war, then they should have the guts to vote for the war, and to be held accountable by their constituents, rather than hiding under their desks,” he said in a statement.
Trump asks news media to leave at start of his breakfast with governors
Trump opened up his breakfast meeting at the White House with U.S. governors by asking the pool of journalists to depart so that they can “talk very candidly.”
“I guess we’re going to be asking the press to leave, that way we’re going to talk very candidly,” Trump said.
The president indicated that he might take questions afterward, though it was unclear if those questions would come from the governors. Trump said he made the choice about the media’s presence at the start of the meeting after talking with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Governors' group pulls out of meeting with Trump
Trump’s refusal to invite all governors to a White House meeting has prompted the group to back out.
The National Governors Association is pulling out of an annual meeting at the White House Trump declined to invite two Democratic governors — Jared Polis of Colorado and Wes Moore of Maryland.
The move was seen as undercutting one of Washington’s few remaining bipartisan gatherings. Trump is still expected to meet with governors at the White House on Friday.
Iran holds military drills with Russia
Iran held annual military drills with Russia as a second American aircraft carrier drew closer to the Middle East.
Both the United States and Iran are signaling they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran’s nuclear program fizzle out. Trump said Thursday he believes 10 to 15 days is enough time for Iran to reach a deal.
But talks on its nuclear program have been deadlocked for years, and Iran has refused to discuss wider U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups. Indirect talks held in recent weeks made little visible progress, and one or both sides could be buying time for final war preparations.
U.S. military presence in the region is mounting.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore to attend White House meeting with Trump
Moore said Friday he will attend a business meeting at the White House during this week’s annual gathering of governors in Washington, even after President Donald Trump excluded him from a traditional governors’ dinner.
Trump said the high-profile Democratic governor was “not worthy of being there.” The selective guest list has cast a shadow over the bipartisan National Governors Association meeting, prompting barbs between Moore and Trump and leading some Democratic governors to boycott the dinner.
Still, Moore said in the statement that he would show up for the official business meeting Friday morning.
“But let me be abundantly clear: I will not participate in political stunts,” Moore wrote in a statement.
Last year’s White House business session devolved into a public clash between Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat.
Trump stocks entourage with people who promoted election falsehoods
Trump has long spread conspiracy theories about voting that are designed to explain away his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Now that he’s president again, Trump has stocked his administration with many people who have promoted his falsehoods and in some cases helped him try to overturn his loss.
The first concrete action from Trump’s mandate to investigate the 2020 election was the seizure in late January of ballots and election records from Fulton County in Georgia, a Democratic stronghold that includes Atlanta. The county has long been a target of election conspiracy theorists aligned with Trump.
