I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly,

very shortly.

We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.

We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages.

President Donald Trump defended his increasingly

unpopular war in Iran. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post.

I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Thursday, April 2nd. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories.

In an address to the nation last night, Trump said that military activity in Iran

was nearing completion. But he said there would first be a period of military buildup. The speech came

as Trump is facing economic and political headwinds more than a month after launching the surprise attack on Iran.

The conflict has sent gas prices soaring and soured Americans' feelings about Trump, just six months before the midterm elections.

Trump sought to assure Americans that the spike in fuel costs was short-term, and spoke about his decision

not to bomb Iran's oil facilities yet. We have not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest

target of all, because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding.

But we could hit it, and it would be gone and is not a thing

they could do about it. Israel, on the other hand, has hit Iran's natural gas and oil facilities.

Over the past month, the administration has given shifting explanations about the goals of the conflict,

and Iran and the U.S. have painted very different pictures of what Trump says are ongoing negotiations to end the war.

The Supreme Court appeared skeptical of Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship. That's number two.

Justices heard arguments yesterday about Trump's executive order to deny citizenship to babies born in the U.S.

to parents without permanent immigration status. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that all

persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are

...