Trump renews bridge, power plant threat against Iran in push for deal, mocks ‘tough guy’ IRGC

2026-04-19 08:54 EDT / Fox News

Trump remains threat to ‘take out their bridges and their power plants’

By Eric Mack, Trey Yingst Fox News

Published April 19, 2026 8:54am EDT | Updated April 19, 2026 9:24am EDT

Chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst reports on his phone call with President Donald Trump after he issued a stern warning to Iran, stating the U.S. is prepared to ‘hit them harder’ if a nuclear deal is not swiftly signed.

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President Donald Trump is giving peace – and war – a chance after alleged ceasefire violations, he told Fox News on Sunday morning.

“If the deal isn’t done, the deal that we made, then I’m going to take out [their bridges and their power plants],” Trump said as he fired off another warning to repeat his threat to end “civilization” in Iran. “If they don’t sign this thing, the whole country is going to get blown up.”

“We’re preparing to hit them harder than any country has ever been hit before because you cannot let them have a nuclear weapon,” Trump added.

Those remarks came as Trump mocked the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in a Truth Social post for staking claim to a Strait of Hormuz “blockade” the U.S. military had already put in place.

TOP GOP HAWK GRAHAM WARNS IRAN DEAL HAS ‘TROUBLING ASPECTS’ AS CEASEFIRE BEGINS

President Donald Trump has called on the nations of the world to summon some “delayed courage” and “just take” the Strait of Hormuz.(Alex Brandon/Pool via Reuters; Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

“Iran recently announced that they were closing the Strait, which is strange, because our BLOCKADE has already closed it,” Trump wrote. “They’re helping us without knowing, and they are the ones that lose with the closed passage, $500 Million Dollars a day! The United States loses nothing.

“In fact, many Ships are headed, right now, to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to load up, compliments of the IRGC, always wanting to be ‘the tough guy!’”

Notably, Trump told Fox News that there is turmoil in Iran, over control of a country where multiple layers of leadership have been killed over the past few months during strikes by Israel and the U.S.

“There’s a little bit of a fight between the moderates [in Iran] and the crazies,” Trump said. “Nobody’s winning it.”

IRAN REVEALS 10-POINT PLAN FOR PEACE WITH THE US – HERE’S WHAT’S IN IT

U.S. Central Command said Wednesday, “After implementing the blockade on ships entering and departing Iranian ports, American forces halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea.”(CENTCOM)

“Our Navy has done an unbelievable job,” he continued. “We haven’t even been challenged.”

Trump declared that Saturday’s IRGC fire was “a total violation” of the ceasefire.

“Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz — A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!” his Truth Social post began.

“Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn’t nice, was it? My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations.”

Trump remains hopeful about diplomacy, but is not ruling out a return to force, where he once warned about ending “civilization” in Iran as they know it.

PAKISTANI GENERAL SAYS IRAN DIPLOMACY STILL ‘ALIVE, DESPITE US BLOCKADE, FAILED TALKS

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6393347085112

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump’s stern warning continued.

“NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!”

“They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years,” Trump added. “IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END!”

Trump’s Middle East peace envoys are going to take the next step toward a diplomatic resolution first, he told Fox News.

“Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are heading to the Middle East,” Trump said. “They will be leaving Monday. Their meeting will begin on Tuesday morning. It’s a very simple deal, they’ve agreed to much of it.”

“It’s almost like they don’t learn,” he said.

President Trump posted a message on Truth Social declaring a variety of Iranian targets would be obliterated if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately opened.(Aaron Schwartz/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2025 via Getty Images)

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Trump added that he has not made a decision on targeting water infrastructure, including desalination plants.

“I hate to do that one,” he said.

Eric Mack is a writer for Fox News Digital covering breaking news.

Attempted arson at London synagogue is 3rd attack on Jewish site in past week: “Sustained campaign of violence”

April 19, 2026 / 9:00 AM EDT / CBS/AFP

An arson attack caused smoke damage at a synagogue in North London overnight, just one day after a similar incident in the city and the third such occurence this week, British officials said Sunday.

The fire caused minor smoke damage to a room at Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, London, according to the Community Security Trust, which provids safety advice to Jewish groups. No injuries were reported.

The Metropolitan Police said its officers noticed damage to the window of the building on Saturday night. Photos from Sunday morning show forensic officers and other law enforcement inspecting the cordoned-off scen.

“On further inspection they saw smoke inside a room and evidence that a bottle with some sort of accelerant had been thrown through the window,” the department said in a statement.

A police forensic officer works inside a cordon at Kenton United Synagogue in London on April 19, 2026. JUSTIN TALLIS /AFP via Getty Images

British chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis wrote on social media that the recent attacks show that a “sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community in the UK is gathering momentum.”

“Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society,” Mirvis wrote.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the recent attcks.

“This is abhorrent and it will not be tolerated. Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain,” Starmer said in a post on X. “We will not rest in the pursuit of perpetrators.”

Counterterrorism police investigate spate of attacks

Counterterrorism officers from London’s Metropolitan Police are investigating multiple arson or attempted arson attacks against Jewish properties in Britain’s capital in the past month. Officers have stepped up patrols in areas with large Jewish populations.

Late Friday, a building that formerly housed a Jewish charity was targeted in Hendon, a neighborhood in north London near Harrow. There were no injuries reported.

A police officer stands by a cordon to an area as they investigate the scene of an attempted arson attack in the Hendon area of London, England. Alishia Abodunde / Getty Images

On Wednesday, police arrested two people over an arson attack on a synagogue in nearby Finchley. In late March, four Jewish community ambulances were torched in Golders Green, also in north London. A little-known group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, with links to Iran, has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks, according to SITE Intelligence Group. The group previously claimed similar attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The Community Security Trust has recorded 3,700 antisemitic incidents in the United Kingdom in 2025, the second-highest total ever reported to the organization.

4月17日，法国总统马克龙在巴黎爱丽舍宫出席关于重开霍尔木兹海峡的国际峰会后，在联合记者会上作出回应。 （法新社）

法国总统马克龙将于下周访问希腊，续签两国安全与防务协议，并将协议延长五年。

路透社报道，一名不愿具名的希腊政府官员星期天（4月19日）透露，马克龙计划于4月24日至25日访问希腊。此次访问的核心议程是延长两国在2021年签署的战略防务契约。根据协议，法希任何一方若遭受攻击，另一方须提供援助。

希腊与法国同为北约盟友。根据2021年协议，希腊向法国采购了三艘法国制造的护卫舰以及约24架达索制造的“飙风”战斗机。

消息人士指出，续签后的协议有效期为五年，之后将自动续期。马克龙与希腊政府还将讨论海事安全及霍尔木兹海峡局势。

在美伊脆弱的停火协议即将到期之际，伊朗重新巩固对霍尔木兹海峡这一战略水道的控制，导致该海峡周日航运陷入停滞。

希腊目前领导欧盟保护红海商船的海军任务，但一直反对参与霍尔木兹海峡的任何军事行动。霍尔木兹局势因此将成为马克龙此行的重要议题之一。

蓝色起源火箭首用回收助推器升空

2026年4月19日 21:27 / 联合早报

美国亿万富翁贝索斯旗下太空公司蓝色起源的“新格伦”（New Glenn）重型运载火箭星期天（4月19日）首次使用回收助推器升空。这有望提升蓝色起源未来发射火箭的频率，并加大与太空探索科技公司（SpaceX）的竞争。

蓝色起源此前曾两次发射新格伦火箭，但都使用全新的助推器，这次则使用了回收助推器。这枚高约100米的“新格伦”火箭于当天美东时间早上7时25分（新加坡时间晚上7时25分）许，搭载一颗通信卫星，从佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角发射升空（主图）。火箭升空后，两个级段完成分离，上级继续执行任务，将卫星送入太空。助推器在发射约9分30秒后，成功降落在大西洋的一座海上浮动平台上（图二）。（法新社）

Former judges speak out on Trump admin’s immigration court purges

Updated on: April 19, 2026 / 9:20 AM EDT / CBS News

At an Oct. 27, 2024 campaign rally during his run for president, Donald Trump told his audience, “On Day One, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.” And he did. President Trump began his second term by dispatching troops and armed ICE agents to carry out aggressive arrests and mass detentions, mainly in blue states.

The president appointed as his Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, whose appetite for deportation, and publicity, appeared to match (and at times eclipse) his own. That, and pinning her promotional campaign’s $220 million price tag on the boss, may have ruffled a few important feathers at the White House. Secretary Noem was fired – signaling a change in tone for the administration, but no change in mission. You have only to check out what’s happening in our immigration courts.

Former immigration judge Ryan Wood told us there is no doubt among immigration judges these days as to what the administration wants: “Zero doubt, they want numbers, they want deportations. They want to keep as many people detained as possible, and stress the system,” he said.

When Wood retired a little more than a year ago, he was an assistant chief immigration judge in the Midwest. He probably could’ve stayed on. He was appointed during President Trump’s first term, and denied many more asylum applications than he granted.

But even so, he didn’t like what he was seeing: “I have seen judges that have not made it very long in this new regime, where they’ve been walked off the bench for whatever reasons … They’re in the middle of dictating an oral decision and they get an email, or they get a tap on the shoulder, literally on the bench, saying, ‘Please come with me.’”

Asked if that had happened in years past, Wood replied, “No, never. We’ve never seen anything like this.”

The nation’s immigration courts fall under the Department of Justice, rather than the Judicial Branch. CBS News

“We’re not ‘deportation judges’”

The immigration court is not part of the judiciary; it is overseen by the Department of Justice, which is in the executive branch. And over the past 14 months, the Trump administration has fired, retired, or forced out more than 200 immigration judges.

Anam Petit was fired last September. “It was crushing,” she said. She’d given up a well-paid job as a law partner to take on a job as an immigration judge in Annandale, Virginia. “It was a dream job for me in a lot of ways. I made personal and professional sacrifices to take that job, because I believed I could be a good and fair judge.

“In my two years of being a judge, I never received any negative feedback from colleagues [or] superiors,” she said. “All my probationary reviews were positive, and no reason was given [for my dismissal].”

Asked what her gut tells her about why she was fired, Petit said, “I came from a background where I represented immigrants previously. I was a law professor at Georgetown Law, where I taught on gender-based immigration issues. I am a woman, a person of color.”

Jeremiah Johnson was an immigration judge in San Francisco for eight years. “My last words on the bench were to a family of four: ‘You’ve been granted asylum in the United States. Welcome to the United States,’” he said.

Johnson was appointed during the last Trump administration. He was caught off-guard last November when he was terminated: “I logged onto the computer and I saw the email notification with attached letter indicating that I had been fired,” he said. “Within 30 seconds, I was locked out of the computer system, unable to print that letter. And then, I was escorted out of the building.”

He said no reason was ever given for why he was fired.

A recruitment ad from the Department of Homeland Security, posted online last December, offers a pretty broad hint: It features the fictional character Judge Dredd, a futuristic hanging judge, and reads: “Deliver justice to criminal illegal aliens. Become a deportation judge. Save your country.”

A page on the Justice Department website, headlined “You be the judge,” promises a salary up to a little more than $200,000 a year to be a “deportation judge” – and even a 25% bonus for taking a job in a “sanctuary city.”

Justice Department

Johnson said he found the ad offensive: “When I first saw the ad, I thought it was a little bit fake. It was not real. It might be spam. We’re not ‘deportation judges’; we’re immigration judges.”

So far, the administration has recruited more than 70 “deportation judges,” most from enforcement backgrounds with little or no immigration experience. Also, to fill the gap created by the administration’s own firings, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth authorized sending military lawyers (known as JAGs) to serve as temporary immigration judges for six-month rotations.

Wood says that’s a problem: “I’m a former Army judge advocate. So, I have a lot of affinity and respect for those judge advocates. This is not a temporary detail. Immigration law is extremely complex. It’s only rivaled by the tax code in complexity. It takes a year or two to really get up to speed and to understand the law and how to make good, fair decisions. But we’re pulling these people out of private practice for six-month details, and truncating the training, and there’s clearly been messages out there of, ‘Read the room. If you’re not gonna make “appropriate” decisions, you won’t be here for long.’”

The Department of Justice declined our request for an interview; but in May of last year, the president succinctly summed up his approach aboard Air Force One: “We need judges that are not going to be demanding trials for every single illegal immigrant. We have millions of people that have come in here illegally, and we can’t have a trial for every single person. That would be millions of trials.”

There are more than 60 immigration courts, for an estimated 3.5 million cases. “We had around 600 immigration judges,” said Petit. “And there are about 100, 125 fewer judges now.”

Asked if she sees any legitimacy to the administration’s argument that an overwhelming number of undocumented immigrants requires mass deportation rather than trials, Petit replied, “The issue is that we also have a statute. Congress has set laws, and it has established what removal proceedings are. It has established what a right to asylum is. And an administration can’t procedurally get around that rule of law.”

Unless they ignore the law.

“I think you’re seeing chaos in the courts”

Johnson, who continues to serve as executive vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, said, “You’re seeing chaos in the streets; I think you’re seeing chaos in the courts. You shouldn’t have police or ICE agents arresting people who are coming into court, tasers being outside the courtroom.”

And what are the consequences of that happening? “If they’re there to send a chilling effect to the people coming to courtroom, then that person is prevented from having their day in court,” Johnson said. “If they’re arrested before they even get to the courtroom, then they have to defend their case miles away in a detention facility, perhaps away from their family, resources, lawyers.”

A man is detained by masked federal agents after leaving a court hearing in immigration court, at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, August 26, 2025 in New York City. The New York Attorney General’s Office asked the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York to block ICE from detaining immigrants inside of courthouses as they attend their court hearings at immigration court. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

There are about 60,000 such people currently being held in U.S. detention. More than 70 percent of them have no criminal record.

According to a count by the Associated Press, 30,000 immigrants have filed what’s known as a habeas corpus petition, claiming illegal detention because they haven’t been granted a bond hearing.

“These are basic due process issues,” said Wood. “American citizens are taken into custody. They’re flown across the country and held without bond. That’s extremely concerning. Even if you are wanting to deport more people, that’s fine, but we should follow the laws that are in place. And if we don’t like the laws, Congress should change them.”

Wood said it is not clear how many American citizens have been detained. “The real answer is that I don’t think we know on some of these cases. There’s such strong incentives to self-deport and to give up and to sign papers without talking to counsel or even talking to a judge. And I think we’re gonna learn, years from now, about some really egregious examples of where we didn’t do what we were supposed to be doing.”

A year ago, 31 percent of those seeking asylum in this country were successful. According to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) for this past February, that number hit an all-time low of 5 percent. The legal pathway for asylum seekers to the United States is approaching zero.

CBS News

“I’m very concerned that we’re doing a lot of things right now without any changes to the law,” said Wood. “We’re doing it by executive order and executive power alone, whether it’s firing of immigration judges, or deportation orders. That’s not the way a democracy is supposed to be run.”

WEB EXTRA: Daniel Caudillo on immigration judges and due process (Video)https://www.cbsnews.com/video/web-exclusive-daniel-caudillo-on-immigration-judges-and-due-process/
Professor Daniel Caudillo, director of the Jim and Leah Finley Immigration Law Clinic at Texas Tech University School of Law, also served as an immigration judge in Laredo, Texas. He talks with Ted Koppel about impacts on immigration judges today, and the importance of protecting due process for all.

西班牙将提议欧盟暂停与以色列联系国协议

2026年4月19日 22:01 / 联合早报

西班牙将提议欧盟暂停与以色列联系国协议

今年2月，西班牙首相桑切斯（Pedro Sanchez）在马德里议会发表讲话。 （路透社）

西班牙首相桑切斯宣布，西班牙将于星期二（4月21日）正式向欧盟提出终止与以色列的联系国协议。

新华社报道，此前，西班牙方面曾多次呼吁欧盟审查或暂停该协议。桑切斯4月10日指出，欧盟应采取行动制约以色列政府，并呼吁暂停欧盟与以色列的联系国协议。

桑切斯说，以色列在加沙地带、黎巴嫩等地的军事行动“公然违反”国际人道主义法，欧洲必须协同一致，以免黎巴嫩“重蹈加沙覆辙”。

欧盟与以色列2000年签订《欧盟—以色列联系国协议》，旨在为双方政治对话与经济合作提供法律和体制框架。若欧盟暂停这一协议，意味着双方贸易优惠、科研合作及政治关系可能受到显著影响，被视为欧盟对伙伴国采取的重要制度性外交施压手段之一。

By Jake Tapper, CNN

Published 10:36 AM EDT, Sun April 19, 2026

Energy Secretary Chris Wright tells CNN’s Jake Tapper that he believes gas prices have “likely peaked” but may not reach below $3 gallon “until next year.”

1:46 • Source: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/19/politics/video/energy-secretary-chris-wright-gas-prices-gallon-iran-war-economy

蓝色起源火箭首用回收助推器升空

2026年4月19日 21:27 / 联合早报

美国亿万富翁贝索斯旗下太空公司蓝色起源的“新格伦”（New Glenn）重型运载火箭星期天（4月19日）首次使用回收助推器升空。这有望提升蓝色起源未来发射火箭的频率，并加大与太空探索科技公司（SpaceX）的竞争。

蓝色起源此前曾两次发射新格伦火箭，但都使用全新的助推器，这次则使用了回收助推器。这枚高约100米的“新格伦”火箭于当天美东时间早上7时25分（新加坡时间晚上7时25分）许，搭载一颗通信卫星，从佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角发射升空（主图）。火箭升空后，两个级段完成分离，上级继续执行任务，将卫星送入太空。助推器在发射约9分30秒后，成功降落在大西洋的一座海上浮动平台上（图二）。（法新社）

今年3月，日本东京河畔樱花如云，吸引市民和游客驻足赏樱。 （法新社）

在日本，有一份延续了1200年的“守护”工作，持续记载京都樱花每年盛开的日期。这项最初只出现在僧侣、贵族和官员日记中的记载，如今已成为全球持续时间最长的气候观测资料之一。

但在去年夏天，长期维护这份记录的大阪公立大学气候学者青野靖（Yasuyuki Aono）因癌症逝世后，这项延续1200多年的京都樱花开花记录一度面临中断风险。

《纽约时报》报道，日本僧侣、贵族和官员数百年来在日记和宫廷记载中留下赏樱日期。青野花了15年自学古日文，把这些零散记录整理成珍贵的气候数据。

研究显示，樱花对气温极其敏感。在长达1000年的时间里，京都樱花的满开日期相对稳定在4月中旬。但随着工业革命和城市化进程的推进，花期开始大幅提前。2021年，京都樱花在3月26日便达到满开，创下了1200年来的最早纪录，较历史平均水平提前了近三周。

青野去世后，大阪公立大学一度无人接手。本月早些时候，“数据看世界”（Our World in Data）成员在社交平台发文求助，希望找到熟悉京都当地、具备科学背景的人接手记录工作。

延伸阅读

北海道追樱 花见时刻领略原始之美

通胀推高日本食品价格 冲击赏樱野餐传统

近日，这项记录工作终于找到新接手人。东京环境生物物理学家、佳能全球战略研究所高级研究员片田源基（Genki Katata）已同意接手这份工作。

樱花花期变化反映气候变暖

樱花花期的改变不仅仅是景观的更迭，更预示着生态系统的连锁反应。

研究指出，花期提前可能使植物错过蜜蜂等传粉昆虫的活跃期，也可能因过早开花而遭遇晚春寒霜。

此外，气候变暖也可能使部分地区不再适合某些樱花品种生长。日本九州研究中心今年的研究指出，暖冬可能导致樱花无法获得足够冷量完成休眠，九州已出现异常开花现象。

新任守护者片田博士介绍，他未来的工作将侧重于进一步区分全球变暖、城市化“热岛效应”以及自然气候波动对樱花花期的具体影响，从而更精确地评估气候变化现状。

西班牙将提议欧盟暂停与以色列联系国协议

2026年4月19日 22:01 / 联合早报

西班牙将提议欧盟暂停与以色列联系国协议

今年2月，西班牙首相桑切斯（Pedro Sanchez）在马德里议会发表讲话。 （路透社）

西班牙首相桑切斯宣布，西班牙将于星期二（4月21日）正式向欧盟提出终止与以色列的联系国协议。

新华社报道，此前，西班牙方面曾多次呼吁欧盟审查或暂停该协议。桑切斯4月10日指出，欧盟应采取行动制约以色列政府，并呼吁暂停欧盟与以色列的联系国协议。

桑切斯说，以色列在加沙地带、黎巴嫩等地的军事行动“公然违反”国际人道主义法，欧洲必须协同一致，以免黎巴嫩“重蹈加沙覆辙”。

欧盟与以色列2000年签订《欧盟—以色列联系国协议》，旨在为双方政治对话与经济合作提供法律和体制框架。若欧盟暂停这一协议，意味着双方贸易优惠、科研合作及政治关系可能受到显著影响，被视为欧盟对伙伴国采取的重要制度性外交施压手段之一。